Two month, eight month and two year old rats were treated with 10 or 20 mg/kg of E. Coli endotoxin I. P. The eight month old rats proved most resistant to the endotoxin. During fixation the aorta, carotid artery, basil arartery of the brain, coronary vessels of the heart, inner surfaces of the heart chambers, heart and skeletal muscle, lung, liver, kidney, spleen, brain, retina, trachae, intestine, salivary gland, adrenal gland and gingiva were treated with ruthenium red or alcian blue to preserve the mucopolysaccharide (MPS) coating. Five, 8 and 24 hrs of endotoxin treatment produced increasingly marked capillary damage, disappearance of the MPS coating, edema, destruction of endothelial cells and damage to the basement membrane in the liver, kidney and lung.
