Failure of bacterial endotoxin to produce the generalized Shwartzman reaction in the Syrian hamster.

The ability of bacterial endotoxin to produce the generalized Shwartzman reaction (GSR) in pregnant and nonpregnant hamsters was investigated. Endotoxins prepared from Escherichia coli O127:B8, Salmonella enteritidis, and S. typhosa 0-901 did not produce the GSR in nonpregnant hamsters. Injection of lead acetate did not make the hamsters susceptible to the GSR producing effects of endotoxin. Endotoxin administered to hamsters on either or both the 14th and 15th day of the 16-day gestation period caused fetal death, but did not provoke the GSR. The immunization of hamsters with boiled suspensions of gram-negative bacteria isolated from hamster feces did not protect against the GSR produced in pregnant hamsters by the injection of the antimitotic drug colchicine late in the gestation period. It appeared that colchicine was acting to produce the GSR by a mechanism other than the release of endogenous endotoxin through the damaged intestinal wall. Ascitic fluid, amniotic fluid, and serum obtained from pregnant hamsters developing the GSR after the administration of colchicine did not provoke the GSR in other pregnant hamsters.