Bacterial lipopolysaccharides (LPS) typically consist of a hydrophobic domain known as lipid A (or endotoxin), a nonrepeating "core" oligosaccharide, and a distal polysaccharide (or O-antigen). Recent genomic data have facilitated study of LPS assembly in diverse Gram-negative bacteria, many of which are human or plant pathogens, and have established the importance of lateral gene transfer in g...

Endotoxins possess an intrinsic fascination that is nothing less than fabulous. They seem to have been endowed by nature with virtues and vices in the exact and glamorous proportions needed to render them irresistible to any investigator who comes to know them.

The primary inflammatory response of rabbits to intradermal injection of bacterial products has been used as the basis of a sensitive assay for endotoxins. Injection of materials into the skin of the lateral surfaces, rather than the ventral surface of the abdomen, was essential. The method was evaluated by comparison with the mouse toxicity test. Statistical examination revealed an excellent c...

A large group of occupational diseases connected with the inhalation of various vegetable dusts, especially in the textile industry, have certain main symptoms in common such as fever, coughing, dyspnoea, and general malaise. In most cases the symptoms are more prominent on Mondays or on resuming work after one or more days of interruption. The symptomatology of these diseases and the Monday ef...

Early activation of human peripheral blood polymorphonuclear neutrophils is characterized by their morphological changes from spherical to polarized shapes. The endotoxins from enteric pathogens (S. dysenteriae type 1, V. cholerae Inaba 569B, S. typhimurium, and K. pneumoniae) were assessed by their ability to induce morphological polarization of the neutrophils as measures of early activation....

Following the discovery of endotoxins by Richard Pfeiffer, such bacterial product was associated to many severe disorders produced by an overwhelming inflammatory response and often resulting in endotoxic shock and multiple organ failure. However, recent clinical and basic sciences investigations claimed some beneficial roles of typical as well as atypical endotoxins. The aim of this paper is t...

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to assess exposure to airborne endotoxins and peptidoglycans (PGs) as well as possibility of using PGs as a surrogate measure of bacterial exposure in workplaces in a metal processing plant. MATERIAL AND METHODS Personal dosimetry (N = 11) was used to obtain data on concentrations of viable bacteria, total number of bioaerosol particles, endotoxins and pep...

In the past three decades, a considerable amount of information has arisen about the involvement of endotoxins in horses with gastrointestinal diseases. The purpose of this paper is to provide a succinct review of the pathogenesis of endotoxemia and its treatment. This will be accomplished by first defining endotoxins, identifying how these toxins interact with specific plasma proteins and cell...