A single peer-reviewed experiment found less lung injury in mice given fresh frozen plasma after abdominal sepsis and hemorrhagic shock. Researchers compared plasma with a standard resuscitation fluid and fibrinogen, then examined lung tissue and blood after 24 hours. Plasma reduced damage to the protective vascular surface layer. The experiment did not test treatment efficacy or safety in people.
Fresh frozen plasma reduced lung injury in a single peer-reviewed mouse experiment combining abdominal sepsis and hemorrhagic shock. Feng Wu and colleagues at the University of Maryland’s medical school compared it with lactated Ringer’s solution, a resuscitation fluid, and fibrinogen, a blood-clotting protein. The study measured early tissue and blood changes rather than human treatment outcomes.[1]
Mice underwent the sepsis procedure followed by blood withdrawal to create shock. Each resuscitation group received fluid equal to the shed blood volume. The reported comparisons used eight animals in each group, examined 24 hours after treatment. Two observers scored thickening of the lung’s alveolar walls without knowing the animals’ group assignments.[1]
Plasma reduced alveolar thickening and the shedding of syndecan-1, a component of the protective layer lining blood vessels. Animals given Ringer’s solution had less syndecan-1 in lung tissue and more in circulating blood. Fibrinogen did not provide the same protection under these experimental conditions.[1]
Plasma also attenuated circulating increases in enzymes released from neutrophils, immune cells involved in inflammation. The authors associate this with reduced release of the cells’ granule contents; the protective plasma component remains unidentified. Measurements centered on the lung at an early time point. The combined model cannot separate the contributions of sepsis and hemorrhage, and human efficacy and safety were not tested.[1]
