Investigation by scintigraphic methods of neutrophil kinetics under normal and septic shock conditions in the experimental baboon model

The purpose of this study was the correlation of neutrophil kinetics with the pathogenic course of septic shock in the baboon model. Radioactively labelled neutrophils were traced in vivo in normal baboons (n = 6) and in Escherichia coli-infected baboons, which were reinjected with labelled autologous neutrophils either 2 h after the onset of the E. coli infusion (procedure A) (n = 3) or simultaneously with the infusion (procedure B) (n = 3). Cell isolation was done according to a method developed in this laboratory. The cells were labelled with tropolonate In 111, resuspended in 1-2 ml plasma and reinjected. One-minute images were taken every 5th min and then hourly for 4 h with a gamma camera and analysed with a data processor. Time-activity curves were obtained for neutrophil washout from the lungs and neutrophil accumulation in the liver and spleen. These curves were compared for normal baboons and for those treated according to procedures A and B. A significant retention of neutrophils in the lungs of baboons with E. coli-induced septic shock was noted as well as an abnormally slow rate of accumulation in the liver and spleen. It also seems that any lung injury which could be attributed to changes in neutrophil behaviour should be traced back to events during the early exposure of neutrophils to bacterial infection.