Modulation of IgM antibody formation by lipid peroxidation products from burn plasma

P. D. Thomson, G. O. Till and D. J. Smith Jr
Johnson's Wax Fund Laboratories for Burn Research, Ann Arbor, MI.

Lipid peroxides (conjugated dienes) have been shown to increase in the plasma of thermally injured animals and in humans. The purpose of this study was to determine if conjugated diene-rich fractions extracted from the plasma of burned rats 3 hours after injury would alter humoral immune function in unburned animals. Plasma diene extracts from burned or normal rats were dissolved in ethanol and given intraperitoneally to Long-Evans rats. Fifteen minutes after diene injection, the rats were immunized with sheep erythrocytes. Five days later, serum and spleen cells obtained from these immunized rats were tested for IgM immunity against sheep erythrocytes. Both plaque-forming cells from spleen and hemagglutination titers in serum were significantly enhanced in the group treated with dienes obtained from the thermally injured rats. These data suggest that conjugated diene-bearing lipid fractions from burn plasma may modulate immune function and support the concept that humoral immunity is enhanced after thermal injury.