Experimental gram-negative septicemia: thromboplastin generation in mononuclear phagocytes from different anatomical...

Rats were subjected to gram-negative septicemia induced by cecal perforation or were sham-operated. Thromboplastin values increased in blood monocytes (40-fold), peritoneal macrophages (115-fold) pleural macrophages (5-fold), splenic macrophages (3-fold), and lung alveolar macrophages (1.4-fold) in septic animals as compared to controls. In septic animals disseminated intravascular coagulation was evidenced by a significant (p less than 0.05) fall in fibrinogen, factor VII, X and platelets. A simultaneous and significant (p less than 0.05) decrease in thromboplastin content of tissue-specimens from lung and spleen was observed in rats with septicemia, whereas increased thromboplastin values were demonstrated in tissue-samples from cecum - the infectious focus. This might reflect mobilization of mononuclear phagocytes in favour of the site of infection.