Bacterial Factor in Experimental Hemorrhagic Shock

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Abstract
Dogs usually recover when transfused after exposure to hemorrhagic shock for 2 hours. If a mash made from normal dog liver is injected intraperitoneally into such dogs during shock they also recover. If the mash is made from liver from dogs in a terminal state of hemorrhagic shock, they die unless treated with penicillin, in which case most of them recover. Therefore, the liver from a dog in terminal hemorrhagic shock contains a lethal factor, which is not present in liver from a normal dog. This factor is a product of bacterial activity that develops as a result of the state of shock. Since this bacterial factor is fatal to a dog exposed to shock of only 2 hours duration, it will also be fatal to the dog in more prolonged shock from which it was obtained. Because the donor dog, like the recipient, recovers after transfusion if appropriately treated with penicillin or other antibiotics, there is a direct relationship between bacterial activity and irreversibility to transfusion in hemorrhagic shock. Most normal dogs recover when exposed to the bacterial factor in liver from a dog in terminal hemorrhagic shock. The failure of the dog in hemorrhagic shock to do so is attributable to the loss of the normal dog''s capacity to inhibit bacterial activity. Impairment of this faculty develops within 2 hours after the onset of shock. Full recovery of this faculty in survivors from shock of short duration is not in evidence for at least 48 hours.