Impaired Bacterial Clearance and Trapping in Obstructive Jaundice

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Abstract
Sepsis is a major cause of mortality in patients with common bile duct obstruction. To define possible contributing factors to this phenomenon, the effect of biliary obstruction on the intravascular clearance and organ trapping of viable Escherichia coli was studied using a rat model. Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were placed in 3 groups: group 1 (controls) had sham operation, group 2 had division and ligation of common bile duct (CDL), and group 3 underwent splenectomy. At 21 days following operation, 109 radiolabeled E. coli were injected i.v. At varying intervals after infusion, blood samples were obtained for clearance study. At 10 min, bacterial distribution in the liver, spleen, kidneys and lungs was determined (expressed as the mean percentage of injected viable E. coli). Intravascular clearance was similar in all groups. There was a significant decrease in the trapping of bacteria by the liver of CDL rats: 14.5% .+-. 4.95 (vs. control = 70.0% .+-. 13.3) (P < 0.005). A significant increase of bacterial trapping by the lung was observed in the CDL animals: 63.1% .+-. 7.06 (vs. controls 1.4% .+-. 0.82) (P < 0.005). There was no significant change in bacterial localization in splenectomized rats. Evidently, biliary obstruction decreases hepatic phagocytosis and increases pulmonary localization of viable E. coli. As the Kupffer cells of the liver are usually effective in removal of blood-borne bacteria, this phagocytic dysfunction may contribute to the increased susceptibility to infection noted in instances of biliary obstruction.