Requirement for lipopolysaccharide-responsive macrophages in galactosamine-induced sensitization to endotoxin

Injection of D-galactosamine sensitizes mice many thousand-fold to the lethal action of endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide [LPS]). Comparable sensitization was practically absent in LPS-resistant C3H/HeJ mice, which after D-galactosamine treatment were about 500,000 times less sensitive to LPS lethality than histocompatible LPS-sensitive C3H/HeN mice. D-Galactosamine induces changes in the hepatocytes of treated animals, such as depletion of UTP and alterations in the pattern of UDP sugars. These early biochemical changes, which are necessary for development of sensitization, were similar in both mouse strains which we examined. High sensitivity to the lethal effects of LPS was achieved in C3H/HeJ mice after D-galactosamine treatment by transfer of C3H/HeN macrophages obtained in culture from bone marrow precursor cells.