Experimental bacillary hemoglobinuria. II. Pathogenesis of the hepatic lesion in the rabbit.

Bacillary hemoglobinuria was expertmenially induced in rabbits by intravenous inoculation with Spores of Clostridium bemolyticum and subsequent hepatic biopsy. The biopsy wound disrupted the hepatic vasculature and damaged the adjacent parenchyma. This damage and the resulting hypoxia created conditions favorable for the germination of the inoculated spores. As the bacteria proliferated, their exotoxin lysed the hepatocytes and the erythrocytes in the immediate area. The bulk of the hepatic necrosis in bacillary hemoglobinuria was due to this exotoxin. Vascular thrombi caused by the exotoxic damage enhanced the development of the lesion.