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Updated: Aug 8, 2026

A Murine Model of a Burn Wound Reconstructed with an Allogeneic Skin Graft
Published on: August 8, 2020
Manipulation of the inflammatory response to burn injury
J B Cone1, B H Wallace, H J Lubansky
1University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Department of Surgery, Little Rock 72205, USA.
Background:
Burn injury is characterized by hypermetabolism and protein catabolism. Endotoxin, derived from either wound or gut, may participate in this response.
Methods:
Eleven seriously burned patients were treated with the endotoxin-binding agent polymyxin B and underwent partitional calorimetry and nitrogen balance studies. The data from theses patients were compared with data from 28 contemporary, similarly burned patients who did not receive polymyxin B.
Results:
Elevated levels of circulating endotoxin were not consistently detected in either group. Interleukin-6 was elevated and correlated with rectal temperature and nitrogen excretion in both groups. Administration of polymyxin B produced no change in metabolic rate but produced a significantly more positive nitrogen balance and was associated with a prompt reduction in interleukin-6 levels.
Conclusions:
These data support the hypothesis that endotoxin plays a role in the postburn protein catabolism but not in the hypermetabolic response. This protein catabolic response is statistically associated with circulating interleukin-6 levels, suggesting a possible role for interleukin-6 in postinjury protein wasting.
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