THE ROLE OF KUPFFER CELLS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF HEPATIC DYSFUNCTION DURING SEPSIS

The effect of Kupffer cell blockade on hepaticfunction during sepsis was evaluated in this study.Methyl palmitate suspension 100 mg/100 g adminis-tered intravenously suppressed the phagocytic activityas the phagocytic index K decreased from 0.0493±0.0089 to 0.0150±0.0035 in rats.Sepsis was producedby the method of cecal ligation and needling perfora-tion (CLP).At the end of 15 hours after CLP thehepatic adenosine triphosphate(ATP)level and ketonebody ratio decreased significantly.But in ratspretreated with methyl palmitate 24 hours prior toCLP,the ATP level returned to the normal controllevel (1.6906±0.06-2.2323±0.13 μmol/g) andketone body ratio remained at significantly higher val-ues (0.26 to 0.68).After CLP, the liver lipoperoxide(LPO) concentration increased and glutathione (GSH)contents decreased significantly. When the septic ratswere pretreated with methyl palmitate,both the LPOand GSH returned to the normal control level(62.69±1.7 to 44.62±2.12 and 159.85±9.7 to 222.27±11.34).It is concluded that the hepatic dysfunction ismodulated at least to a greater extent by many of thetoxic mediators released by the activated Kupffer cellsduring sepsis.