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W B WOOD

Publications and source records attributed to W B WOOD.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1964

STUDIES ON THE PATHOGENESIS OF FEVER. XII. ELECTROLYTIC FACTORYS INFLUENCING THE RELEASE OF ENDOGENOUS PYROGEN FROM POLYMORPHONUCLEAR LEUKOCYTES.

The metabolic reactions responsible for the release of endogenous pyrogen from rabbit granulocytes incubated in 0.15 M NaCl are specifically inhibited by the presence of K(+) (and by related alkali metal ions, Rb(+) and Cs(+)) in the medium. The inhibitory action of K(+) apparently involves penetration of the cell membrane and is directly antagonized by the cardiac glycoside, ouabain. It is concluded, therefore, that the inhibition of pyrogen release by extracellular K(+) is due to transport of K(+) into the cell. Although the precise molecular mechanisms which are responsible for the release of pyrogen from granulocytes incubated in K-free saline have not been elucidated, further study of the process has revealed: (a) that it is preceded by the accumulation of pyrogen within the cell, (b) that it depends upon the catalytic action of one or more sulfhydryl-containing enzymes, (c) that it does not require energy, either from glycolysis or from reactions depending on molecular oxygen, and (d) that its inhibition by K(+) and by arsenite is qualitatively similar to the depression caused by these same reagents on the release of other leucocytic proteins; i.e., lysozyme and aldolase.

Aldehyde-Lyases↗
PubMed1964

STUDIES ON THE PATHOGENESIS OF FEVER. 13. THE EFFECT OF PHAGOCYTOSIS ON THE RELEASE OF ENDOGENOUS PYROGEN BY POLYMORPHONUCLEAR LEUKOCYTES.

1. Phagocytosis promotes the release of endogenous pyrogen from polymorphonuclear leucocytes. 2. The release of pyrogen, though initiated by the phagocytic event, is not synchronous with it. 3. The postphagocytic release mechanism is not inhibited by sodium fluoride and, therefore, appears not to require continued production of energy by the cell. 4. The release process, on the other hand, is inhibited by arsenite, suggesting the participation of one or more sulfhydryl-dependent enzymes in the over-all reaction. 5. Particle for particle, the ingestion of heat-killed rough pneumococci causes the release of approximately 100 times as much pyrogen as the ingestion of polystyrene beads of the same size. 6. The pyrogen release mechanism of polymorphonuclear leucocytes separated directly from blood, unlike that of granulocytes in acute inflammatory exudates, is not readily activated by incubation of the cells in K-free saline. Despite this difference, both blood and exudate leucocytes following phagocytosis release large amounts of pyrogen, even in the presence of K(+). The fact that the postphagocytic reaction is uninhibited by the concentrations of K(+) which are present in plasma and extracellular fluids, suggests that this mechanism of pyrogen release may well operate in vivo. 7. As might be expected from the foregoing observations, the intravenous injection of a sufficiently large number of heat-killed pneumococci causes fever in the intact host. Intravenously injected polystyrene beads, on the other hand, are significantly less pyrogenic. Evidence is presented to support the conclusion that the fever in both instances is caused by pyrogen released from the circulating leucocytes which have phagocyted the injected particles. 8. The possible relationships of these findings to the pathogenesis of fevers caused by acute bacterial infections are discussed.

Animals↗
PubMed1963

Studies on the pathogenesis of fever. XI. Quantitative features of the febrile response to leucocytic pyrogen.

Although the absolute febrile responses of trained individual rabbits injected intravenously with small to moderate doses of leucocytic pyrogen vary over an appreciable range, the relative responses of each rabbit to changes in dosage are satisfactorily reproducible. The quantitative dose-response relationship is characterized by a hyperthermic ceiling at which the intensity of the febrile reaction is relatively constant over a wide dosage range. Only at lower dose levels, where the dose-response curve is reasonably steep, is the magnitude of the fever produced proportional to the amount of pyrogen injected. When sufficiently large doses of LP are injected, the hyperthermic ceiling is exceeded. The fevers thus induced are biphasic in character and, in this way, resemble the usual response to bacterial endotoxin. Similar biphasic fevers result from continuous infusions of relatively low concentrations of LP at a constant rate. Repeated intermittent injections of moderate doses of LP likewise cause prolonged biphasic fevers, but, once the fever has become established, the reaction to each individual injection becomes markedly depressed. When large doses of LP are injected at daily intervals, the characteristic biphasic response occurs only following the first injection. Thereafter a state of tolerance intervenes in which the late secondary rise in temperature fails to occur. This form of tolerance lasts as long as the daily injections are continued but subsides within a few days after the injections are stopped. During the transient tolerance the rabbit's responsiveness to small doses of LP (in the sensitive range of the dose response curve) is depressed. In addition, the amount of endogenous pyrogen mobilized from the tissues by a large dose of LP is not as great as that generated in a normal rabbit. The relations of these findings to biphasic fevers, tolerance, and the accuracy of the conventional method of pyrogen assay are briefly discussed.

Animals↗
PubMed1962

Studies on the pathogensis of fever. IX. The production of endogenous pyrogen by polymorphonuclear leucocytes.

Determination of the dose-response curve for rabbit leucocytic pyrogen reveals a hyperthermic "ceiling" at which there is a marked insensitivity to dosage. This finding has important implications in relation to the quantitative assay of leucocytic pyrogen. Polymorphonuclear leucocytes separated from normal rabbit blood possess the capacity to produce less than 5 per cent of the pyrogen generated by the same number of rabbit granulocytes collected from acute peritoneal exudates. Blood granulocytes, separated in the cold from the buffy coat, contain no detectable preformed pyrogen. The amount of preformed pyrogen within exudate granulocytes represents but a small fraction of the pyrogen which the cells are capable of generating when incubated in normal saline at 37 degrees C. It is suggested that the active pyrogen is formed from an inactive precursor within the cells. Under the conditions tested, cell fragments of rabbit granulocytes fail to produce endogenous pyrogen. The fact that the production of pyrogen is blocked at 4 degrees C is in keeping with the hypothesis that it involves metabolic reactions within the cell.

Animals↗
PubMed1962

Studies on the pathogenesis of fever. X. The effect of certain enzyme inhibitors on the production and activity of leucocvtic pvrogen.

The production of endogenous pyrogen by intact granulocytes obtained from acute peritoneal exudates is blocked by arsenite, iodoacetate, p-chloromercuribenzoate, and N-ethylmaleimide in concentrations of 2 x 10(-4)M. When the concentration of these sulfhydryl-reactive enzyme inhibitors is increased to 2 x 10(-2)M, only the iodoacetate inactivates the pyrogen molecule, whereas the arsenite, the p-chloromercuribenzoate, and the N-ethylmaleimide have no gross effect upon its thermogenic activity. Both diisopropyl fluorophosphate and dinitrofluorobenzene are even more potent inactivators of the pyrogen molecule than iodoacetate, although the action of the DFP cannot be blocked or reversed by known antagonists such as 2-pyridine aldoxime methiodide and hydroxylamine. Proteolytic enzymes, potentially capable of degrading leucocytic pyrogen, are released from polymorphonuclear leucocytes, along with the pyrogen, when the cells are incubated in normal salt solution. These enzymes are readily activated by a sufficient concentration of glutathione (2 x 10(-2)M). They are not present in preparations of partially purified leucocytic pyrogen from which much of the non-pyrogenic protein has been removed. Glutathione by itself, even at concentrations as high as 2 x 10(-1)M, does not affect in the gross the thermogenic activity of the purified pyrogen. The implications of these findings in relation to both the production and the chemical characteristics of leucocytic pyrogen are discussed.

Enzyme Inhibitors↗
PubMed1961

Studies on the pathogenesis of fever. VIII. Further observations on the role of endogenous pyrogen in endotoxin fever.

Rabbits made granulocytopenic with nitrogen mustard have been shown to generate serum endogenous pyrogen when given a fever-producing dose of bacterial endotoxin. This finding is in accord with the hypothesis that endogenous pyrogen plays a central role in the pathogenesis of endotoxin fever. The fact that leucopenic animals produce less serum-endogenous pyrogen than normal animals given the same dose of endotoxin has also been confirmed and suggests that polymorphonuclear leucocytes constitute a major source of the endogenous pyrogen which is demonstrable in the circulation during endotoxin fever.

Animals↗