Dyspnea in aging rats due to disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC)

During an 18-month oncogenicity study using rats, approximately 10% of the animals developed a form of respiratory distress very similar to that seen in the terminal stages of chronic respiratory disease, commonly associated with Mycoplasma pulmonis infection. Investigation of the lungs of the affected rats revealed not only that they did not have the consolidation usually associated with chronic respiratory disease, but they also appeared macroscopically normal. Further investigation of a number of cases revealed systemic intravascular thrombus formation of the type usually referred to as disseminated intravascular coagulation. Using an antiserum to fibrin we have demonstrated the presence of intravascular fibrin deposits in the lungs of the affected rats and have shown them to be the same as experimentally induced intravascular fibrin deposits induced in rat lungs by the administration of thrombin after blocking the fibrinolytic system. This is the first example of such a phenomenon being recorded in aging rats.