The mechanism of protracted collapse in young animals due to the action of bacterial toxins

Summary The reactions of young puppies (ages from 1 to 18 days) and of the older ones (ages from 1.5 to 3 months) to the action of lethal doses of staphylococcus and the dysentery toxins were analyzed on the basis of EEG, EKG respiration frequency and body temperature studies. In three month puppies a rapidly developing (within 5–8 minutes) collapse is followed by death. This collapse is characterized by an almost simultaneous disappearance of the EEG rhythms, respiratory center activity and that of the heart, as well as by an insignificant reduction of the body temperature (by 2–3°C). In case of young puppies death is preceded by prolonged collapse (lasting several hours). In young animals the latter is characterized by a gradual decrease of the body temperature to the environment level with the electric activity of the brain cortex disappearing 3–5 hours previous to the death of the animal. When the body temperature is prevented from dropping, the period of protracted collapse is decreased sharply. The above observations lead to the following explanation of this fact: in a protracted collapse of young puppies the liminal (critical) temperature at which the animal dies is decreased as a result, of alteration of the nervous centers by bacterial toxins.Presented by Active Member AMN SSSR V. N. Chemigovskii