Inhibition of Lethality in Endotoxin Challenged Mice Treated with Zinc Chloride.

Previous investigators have demonstrated that zinc effectively stabilizes lysosomal membranes. This finding prompted us to investigate the use of zinc as a protective agent in endotoxic shock. We have found that zinc chloride effectively protects against the lethal effects of Salmonella typhosa endotoxin in B6CBF1 mice. Thus, when mice are injected intraperitoneally with zinc chloride at a dose of 0.40 mgmouse 1 hour to challenge with endotoxin 0.75 mg, the 24-hour mortality was only 3 percent. This compares with 100 percent mortality found for the untreated controls. The circulating levels of beta-glucuronidase at 20 hours after endotoxin challenge are significantly depressed approximately 50 percent in mice protected with zinc relative to the group not protected with zinc.