Annals of surgery
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To determine whether gut-derived factors leading to organ injury and increased endothelial cell permeability would be present in the mesenteric lymph at higher levels than in the portal blood of rats subjected to hemorrhagic shock. This hypothesis was tested by examining the effect of portal blood plasma and mesenteric lymph on endothelial cell monolayers and the interruption of mesenteric lymph flow on shock-induced lung injury. ⋯ Gut barrier failure after hemorrhagic shock may be involved in the pathogenesis of shock-induced distant organ injury via gut-derived factors carried in the mesenteric lymph rather than the portal circulation.