EARLY RELEASED LIPID-SOLUBLE CARDIODEPRESSANT FACTOR AND ELEVATED ESTROGENIC SUBSTANCES IN HUMAN SEPTIC SHOCK

A cardiodepressant factor (CDF), able to decrease contractile activity of cultured rat heart cells, was determined to be located in the lipid-soluble fraction of sera from men in septic shock. This heat-stable CDF has a MW < 1000. Repeated fractionations of sera gave evidence of an estrone-like chromatographic behavior. Estrone, estradiol and cortisol were immunologically quantified in 2 groups (recovery and death) of men in septic shock. All of them were elevated in sera from patients with shock. Highest levels of estrone 4330 pmol l-1, (SEM [standard error of the mean] .+-. 851, n = 15), estradiol 1030 pmol l-1, (SEM .+-. 220, n = 15) and cortisol 1096 pmol l-1, (SEM .+-. 94, n = 15), were found in patients who failed to recover from shock. However, estrone levels were the most striking, especially in the male. This study gives evidence for a polarity relationship between the CDF and estrone, but natural estrone does not appear to be a direct CDF. Radioimmunoassay of estrone could be an important index evaluating the severeness of septic shock.