Detection of Ferritin in the Plasma of Guinea Pigs in Experimental Shock

¹ From the Department of Pathology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York

Guinea pigs were subjected to shock by hemorrhage or by infusion of either E. coil or S. enteritidis endotoxin, and changes in levels of plasma-bound iron and ferritin were assayed. Of 12 bled animals, all showed increases in plasma-bound iron and half gave a positive test for ferritin. Of 12 guinea pigs treated with LD₈₀ doses of E. coli endotoxin, only 4 showed an elevation in plasma-bound iron. Of these only one was positive for ferritin. Of 10 guinea pigs treated with LD₈₀ doses of S. enteritdis endotoxin, only five showed elevations in plasma-bound iron, and three of these also showed detectable increases in plasma ferritin. Immunologically detect able increases in plasma ferritin were not found in any of the endotoxin-infused animals showing decreases in plasma-bound iron.

It was concluded: (a) that, in the guinea pig (as in the rabbit), hyperferremia is more frequent after hemorrhage than after the in fusion of Gram-negative bacterial endotoxin (b) that significant increases in ferritin do not appear simultaneously with decreases in total plasma-hound iron in endotoxic guinea pigs; and (c) that hyperferremia and hyperferritinemia do not play a direct role in the lethal progression of endotoxic shock in the guinea pig.