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The histopathology and serum levels of mice inoculated intravenously with Pseudomonas aeruginosa exotoxin were studied. The toxin exerted a marked effect on the liver but elicited no demonstrable microscopic changes in other organs. The microscopic lesions caused in the liver by a single injection of two 50% lethal doses (LD50) of toxin (2.3 mug) were characterized by necrosis, cellular swelling, and fatty change within 4--8 hr and near total hepatocellular necrosis at 48 hr. Hepatic necrosis was accompanied by a parallel rise in serum levels of aspartate and alanine aminotransferases and alkaline phosphatase. A single injection of 10 LD50 elicited similar but somewhat more rapid degeneration. No progressive lesions were seen after injection of toxoid or of 0.5 LD50 of toxin.
Pavlovskis et al. (Sun,) studied this question.