Endotoxin and Endotoxemia

Endotoxins — lipopolysaccharides that form a portion of the cell walls of gram-negative bacteria — cause alterations of blood coagulation, complement and kallikrein, and often hypotension and death in a variety of laboratory animals.1 Endotoxin has been considered a likely cause of some of the pathophysiological alterations that often lead to death of patients with bacteremia due to gram-negative organisms. However, proof that endotoxin actually produces these effects in man is lacking. In addition, a test sensitive enough to detect endotoxin in blood or other body fluids has not been available in the past, and gram-negative sepsis has been equated . . .