The Behavior of Sodium, Potassium, Magnesium and Zinc in the Brain with Special Attention to Cerebral Edema Following Experimentally Induced Burns

In the foreground of the pathogenesis of acute burn shock is a generalized increase in blood vessel permeability. This causes marked edema formation, not only in the immediate neighborhood of the thermally damaged skin, but in the entire organism as well. This generalized disturbance of permeability cannot be explained by the immediate effect of thermal energy on the blood vessels alone. Much more responsible for this disturbance are the histamines, prostaglandines, polypeptides, catecholamines and toxic burn products which are partially liberated from the burned tissue and partially from the organism by neurogenic and chemical stimulation. The functioning of all organs in the further course of the burn disease is hampered by this.