Sympathetic Nerve Depletion in Severe Thermal Injury

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Abstract
Twelve severely thermally burned subjects were followed. Dally 24-hr. urine collections were obtained and bioassayed for adrenaline (epinephrine) and noradrenaline (norepinephrine). Shortly after death, the adrenals, lumbar sympathetic ganglia and axon were removed and bioassayed for epinephrine and norepinephrine. Terminal urinary output of epinephrine and norepinephrine was compared to residual content of epinephrine and norepinephrine in the adrenals, sympathetic axon and ganglia. Results indicate that thermal burn is severe stress in which the sympathoadrenal medullary system is activated into releasing large quantities of both epinephrine and norepinephrine. Thirty-three per cent of the subjects that died showed at the time of death a subnormal output of norepinephrine and a subnormal norepinephrine content of the sympathetic ganglia and axon[long dash]a condition which is commensurate with sympathetic nerve depletion.