Publication Date:
1978-03-24
Description:
Glucan is a potent reticuloendothelial stimulant whose immunobiological activity is mediated, in part, by an increase in the number and function of macrophages. In studying the role of glucan as a mediator of antibacterial activity, we attempted to ascertain the ability of glucan to modify the mortality of mice with experimentally induced Gram-positive bacteremia, and to enhance antibacterial defenses in rats as denoted by serum lysozyme and phagocytic activity. After intravenous administration of glucan, serum lysozyme concentrations were increased approximately sevenfold over control concentrations. The increase in serum lysozyme appeared to parallel the glucan-induced increase in phagocytosis and induced hyperplasia of macrophages. Prior treatment of mice with glucan significantly enhanced their survival when they were challenged systemically with Staphylococcus aureus. These studies indicate that glucan confers an enhanced state of host defense against bacterial infections.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Kokoshis, P L -- Williams, D L -- Cook, J A -- Di Luzio, N R -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 1978 Mar 24;199(4335):1340-2.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/628841" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Animals
;
Bacteriolysis/drug effects
;
Immunotherapy
;
Macrophages/drug effects
;
Male
;
Muramidase/*blood
;
Phagocytosis/*drug effects
;
Polysaccharides/*pharmacology/therapeutic use
;
Rats
;
Sepsis/prevention & control
;
Staphylococcal Infections/*prevention & control/therapy
;
Staphylococcus aureus
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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