Preliminary Bacteriological Studies of the Arterialized Canine Liver

Introduction  It is now well known that the liver of the dog harbors a spore-bearing anaerobe of the Clostridium species.^1,2 In view of the suspected role of clostridia in causing death from irreversible shock, intestinal obstruction, acute pancreatic necrosis, and ischemic hepatic necrosis, the detailed bacteriological study both of dog and of man urgently needs to be done. It could be that one is here dealing with an organism harbored in the intestinal tract, periodically embolizing the portal blood stream, and causing death when conditions are suitable for its proliferation. It is fortunate for the study of this infection that the clostridia are very sensitive to penicillin; this fact resulted in the finding that complete ligation of the hepatic artery in dogs protected by penicillin permits the liver to function adequately in the absence of gross quantities of arterial blood. The inference is unavoidable that when death occurs after