J.Jpn. Surg. Soc.. 57(1): 69-85, 1956

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AN EXPERIMENTAL AND HISTOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION INTO THE ACTION OF SODIUM-ALGINATE SOLUTIONS PREPARED UNDER NEWLY DEVISED CONDITIONS ON ORGANS, PARTICULARLY THE SPLEEN OF LIVING BODY

Four dextrose and saline solutions of sodium alginate, 45-50 in the degree of polymerization-sodium alginate 0.6%, 0.5%, 0.4% and 0.3%, dissoIved, respectively, in dextrose 5% plus saline 0.3% (abbr. : new condition 0.6% solution, new condition 0.5% solution, new condition 0.4% solution and new conclition 0.3% solution)- were given by injection in adult rabbits not subjected to blood Iettting in a dose of 30cc., 25cc. or 20cc. per Kg. of body weight, and the animal thus treated were killed a certain number of days afterwards for examination of their spleens, lungs, livers, kidneys, adrenaIs and bone marrow.
New condition 0.6% solution, and new condition 0.5% solution as well, injected in a dose of 20 cc/kg (the minimum dosage), produced in 3 days no perceptible change in the lung, liver, kidney, adrenal or bone marrow, but brought about in the splenic pulp a swelling, proliferation and vacuolation of reticulum cells and the formation of a large number of "alginate cells".
New condition 0.4% solution, injected in a dose of 30 cc/Kg (the maximum dosage), produced in 3 days no marked change in the lung, liver, kidney, adrenal or bone marrow, and the lesion it caused in the spleen was very insignificant : the reticulum cells were swollen and increased in number only a little on the 3rd day and the "alginate cells" found in a very small number under the capsule , these slight changes disappearing in 10 days. New condition 0.3% solution, containing sodium alginate in a still smaller concentration, given in the maximum dose of 30 cc/Kg, produced a still more insignificant lesion, and the only change noted ―the appearance of a few scattered "alginate cells" under the capsule of the spleen on the 3rd day after injection―became almost indetectable in 10 days.
New condition 0.3% solution, given in a dose of 30 cc/Kg, failed to raise the blood pressure in any notable measure, though it caused, if ever, a slight change in the spleen and no marked change at all in the other main organs. New condition 0.6%, 0.5% and 0.4% solution were not significantly varied in their action on the blood pressure, raising it to and keeping it at a certain level, and the slight histological change they produced in the spleen, the only organ affected, was a teifle varied in severity according to the concentration in which sodium alginate was contained in the solution used. New condition 0.4% solution, in which the concentration was lower than in the two other solutions, appeared, therefore, to be the most preferable of the three as plasma expander.
An actual use of new condition 0.4% solution―30 cc/Kg of this given by injection―corroborated the assumption, showing that it produced no serious change in any organ, as examined on the 3rd day after injection in tissue specimens prepared from 4 human spleens on laparotomy : there was no appearance of "alginate cells", the reticulum cells were neither swollen nor proliferated in any marked measure, and the lymphocytes increased in number only a little, in the splenic pulp.
These and other experimental results obtained at the Tomoda Surgical Laboratory taken together indicate that various practical conditions required for a plasma expander are best fulfilled in sodium alginate, 45-50 in degree of polymerization, 0.4% dissolved in 5% dextrose and 0.3% saline.
(author's abstract)

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