Maternal endotoxemia, fetal anomalies, and central nervous system damage: a rat model of a human problem

Endotoxemia is a common consequence of the gram negative urinary tract infections that complicate human pregnancies. Only rarely, however, have the effects of maternal endotoxemia been evaluated by animal experiments or by human investigations. Data of the Collaborative Perinatal study suggest an association between maternal endotoxemia and fetal central nervous system damage. For these reasons we performed controlled studies of the fetal effects of treatment of pregnant rats, at appropriate gestational ages, with E. coli endotoxin. We found a maximum 7% incidence of fetal anomalies in the treated animals but no anomalies in controls. Placental light microscopy examinations indicated the mechanism to include Shwartzman like phenomena. It has been shown by others that neonatal endotoxemia produces periventricular leukomalacia. We obtained an incidence of neuronal necrosis in treated fetuses that was 10 times greater than in control fetuses. It is therefore of importance that additional studies of the hepatologic effects of endotoxin be performed.