Prolonged Shock in the Monkey Follwoing Live 'Escherichia Coli' Organism Infusion.

Responses of the rhesus monkey to live E. coli organisms during an observation period of 0-27 hours were studied. Nine of eleven monkeys were infused with live E. coli organisms, the dose ranging between 7.6 x 10 to 9th power and 3.0 x 10 to 11th power organismskg, for 30 minutes. Three of nine animals survived for 24 hours or longer. Nonsurvivors demonstrated significant hypotension, hypoglycemia, and hypoinsulinemia, while survivors showed lesser degrees of physiologic derangement. The most prominent finding was hepatic sinusoidal fibrin thrombi and hepatocellular damage accompanied by elevated serum enzymes. The kidney did not show glomerular fibrin thrombi, however tubular lesions were clearly evident and increases in blood urea nitrogen levels and endogenous creatinine were documented. Lungs of longer surviving treated animals contained fewer polymorphonuclear leukocytes and platelets than seen in acute shock studies. This study emphasizes the importance of monitoring the nonhuman primate during an extended time period since many significant pathophysiologic responses occur after 8 hours of observation.