Abstracts 593

UWU~UWSU or Staph. cpidr~rrnidic. Some seeded wounds were treated with Sulphamylon or silver sulphadiazinc.

In the animals that became bacteraemic oxygen con- sumption and core temperature increased significantly compared with the finding\ in non-bacteraemic anim- als. Sulphamylon treatment reduced the oxygen con- sumption of the animals which were non-hactcraemic although the wounds had been sccdcd wsith I’\. ~,(~~I~,vII~oYu. The mctnbolic expenditure of the animal\ vartcd wtth both the bactcrtal strain and the nature 01 the topical antibacterial agent.

During weeks 2 and 3 post-burn the oxygen con- sumption of the non-hactcraemic animals decreased when the ambient temperature was raised from 32” to 34°C.

Aulick L. II., McManus A. T., Mason A. D. et al. ( I’M) Effects of infection on oxygen consumption and core temperature in cxpcrimental thermal injury. Ar~rt. Sm,q 204. (I), 4x-53.

Liver and muscle amino acids Three different diets were given to scalded rats, consist- ing of amino acids plus high or low glucose inputs or glucose only. Nitrogen balances were diffcrcnt in each group and lowest when only glucose was given. Pro- vided nitrogen was given. the differing glucose inputs cau\etl littlc change in muscle and liver amino acid content. When only glucose was given the glycinc content 01 muscle and liver fell markedly. In contrast. in the clinical catabolic situation the glutamine content of these organs changes dramatically.

Karncr .I.. Roth E., Funovics _I. et al. (lYX6) Effects 01 nutrition on plasma. liver and muscle amino acids in scalded rat\. J. Purenwr. krltr. Nurr. 10. (4). 3Y3-3YX.

Best type of lipid for nutrition Different types of dietary lipids were tested for I4 days in guinea-pigs with deep burns covering 30 per cent of the body surface area. Each lipid input provided IO per cent 01 the total energy input and was delivered by pump into a gastrostomy. When compared with safflower oil and linoleic acid. fish oil administration resulted in less weight loss. hctter skeletal muscle mass, lower resting metabolic expenditure, better cell- mediated immune responses and opsonic indices, higher splcnic weight and serum transferrin levels and lower adrenal weight and serum C3 levels. Tndometha- tin administration only improved the cell-mediated immune responses of the animals fed linoleic acid. The authors suggest that giving fish oil reduces the synthesis of the dienoic prostaglandins, some of which are signi- ficantly immunosuppressive.

Alexander J. W.. Siato H., Trocki 0.. et al. (1986) The importance of lipid type in the diet after burn injury. Arftz. Surg. 204. (1). I-H.

Histamine release after burns When normal rats are carefully handled their plasma histamine concentrations are similar to those found in normal humans. whereas with rough handling many fold increases in concentration are observed. Plasma histamine concentrations increase within I min after

burns in the rat and the increase is proportional to the extent of the burn. With partial skin thickness burns there is a single time-related peak of plasma histamine concentration, whereas a biphasic elevation is found after full skin thickness injury.

Yurt R. W. and Pruitt B. A. (1986) Baseline and post thermal injury plasma histamine in rats. J. Appl. Phy- siol. 60, (5). 17X2-1788.

ARDS and neurodepressant drugs An acute respiratory distress (ARDS)-like syndrome was produced in rats by either scalding or an anterior hypothalamic lesion. Pretreatment of the animals with either morphine or pentobarbital sodium or haloperi- dol or diazepam or chlopromazine or urethane (all neurodepressant drugs) caused a significant attenuation of the evolution of the ARDS-like syndrome. These results tend to confirm again that some of the responses to thermal injury are centrally based.

de Oliv,eir;t Ci. C;.. Shimano L. T. and dc Oltveira Antonio M. P. (1986) Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS): the prophylactic effect of neuro- dcpres\ant agents. ./. Trtrrrmrr 26. (5). J5 I-J57

Changes in cardiac function Studies of the functional capabilities of rat heart mus- cles in vitro were made after the rats had received full skin thickness burns covering 30 per cent of the body surface. There were Xl per cent decreases in tension development and velocities of contraction and relaxation when papillary muscles from sham and non- resuscitated burned animals were compared. Fluid rc- suscitation immediately followed burning completely reversed the defects in papillary muscle function. These defects were partially transferable to normal muscles incubated in serum from burned rats.

Ciofh W. G., DeMeules J. E. and Gamelli R. L. (1986) The effects of burn injury and fluid resuscitation on cardiac function in vitro. J. Trauma 26, (7). 63% 642.

LABORATORY STUDIES

Efficiency of red cell labelling Erythrocytes damaged by heat respond to labelling with chromium or technetium or indium in different ways. Compared with the efficiency of lahelling undam- aged erythrocytes with these labels, chromium-5 I lahelled haemoglobin both in undamaged and hcat- damaged cells. Indium-I I I or -113m predominantly lahelled haemoglobin in undamaged cells but labcllcd stroma in heat-damaged cells. even when the cells were labelled before heating. Technetium-YYm predomi- nantly labelled haemoglohin in undamaged cells hut only labelled stroma in heat-damaged cells if these were heated before lahelling. lndium was more firmly bound by stroma prepared from heat-damaged cells. the tech- netium showed a high rate of elution both from cells and stroma. although this rate was lower for heat- damaged cells.

Thus chromium-51 seems to he the most cfficicnt