EFFECTS OF GLYCERYL TRIOLEATE ON THE RETICULORENDOTHELIAL SYSTEM AND SURVIVAL AFTER EXPERIMENTAL SHOCK

¹ Departments of Anesthesiology and Physiology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, Bronx, New York

Experiments were undertaken with rats to determine the adaptive effects of glyceryl trioleate (triolein) on in vivo phagocytic activity and on survival after intestinal ischemic, traumatic and endotoxin shock. Various pretreatment regimens of triolein significantly stimulated reticuloendothelial system (RES) phagocytic activity (K values increased up to 600%) which, on analysis of RES wet organ weights ( values), indicated that the hyperphagocytosis which developed was due to increased tissue activity of the Kupffer cells and splenic macrophages rather than to cellular hypertrophy. Triolein pretreatment increased lung weights which was due to pulmonary edema. Triolein-pretreated animals showed significantly higher survival rates after all three forms of experimental shock with some correlation between the level of RES stimulation and the degree of protection against intestinal and traumatic shock but not endotoxin shock. In addition, the lipid emulsifying agent, Tween 20, was found to induce RES stimulation and depression as well as changes in reticuloendothelial organ weights, depending upon the administered dose. Although these data do not identify the mechanism(s) whereby triolein pretreatment increases resistance to several types of experimental shock or causes pulmonary edema, they do suggest continued exploration of materials suitable for human use in view of the implications of these findings on prophylactic protection against shock.