We investigated the effect of antibiotic or G-CSF plus antibiotic therapy given to E. coli septic rats. In our study, 80 rats were inoculated transperitoneally with 1 ml of a solution containing 10 7 colony forming units per milliliter of E. coli. Rats were divided into four treatment groups before being inoculaded with E. coli in a random fashion. Therapy was then started with cefotaxime (150 mg/kg intraperitonelally) and either Granulocyte-Colony Stimulation Factor (G-CSF; 30 �g/kg intarperitoneally) or placebo 24 hours after inoculation of E. coli for 3 consective days. Group A 1 , sepsis-antibiotics group, had a mortality rate of 65%; Group A 2 , sepsis+G-CSF plus antibiotics group, had a mortality rate of 40% (p>0.05); Group B1, neutropenic sepsis+antibiotics group, had a mortality rate of 85%; B 2 , neutropenic sepsis+G-CSF plus antibiotics group, had a mortality rate of 55% (p<0.05). By day 7 after E. coli incoculation, there was a significant difference in the mortality rate between the two neutropenic groups. No significant differences were found in the hemoglobin levels and thrombocyte counts between the groups but a significant increase in white blood cell (WBC) and absolute neutrophil counts (ANC) were found in the G-CSF treated groups. This study shows that administration of G-CSF, in addition to cefotaxime, in neutropenic rats with E. coli sepsis significantly decreased mortality rate compared with antibiotics alone.
Keywords
G-CSF, E. coli sepsis, neutropenia