A quantitative study of dehydrogenase activity of hepatocytes in systemic endotoxinemia

A histophotometric study of the liver dehydrogenase activity reveals the nature of changes of enzymatic homeostasis and its periodicity in the dynamics of endotoxinemia in dogs. A compensatory reaction to lipopolysaccharide administration develops during the first two hours. A decrease of dehydrogenase and diaphorase activity and the development of structural damage to hepatocytes appear later. It is shown that the activation of free-radical oxidation as well as an increase of the level of medium-sized molecules in the blood plasma play a key role in the pathogenesis of liver damage. Translated fromByulleten' Eksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 119, No. 1, pp. 105–108, January, 1995 Presented by V. V. Kupriyanov, Member of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences