Abstract
Summary
The pyrogenicity of endotoxin which had been diminished by incubation with papain was restored by treatment of the inactive complex with pronase and ethanol, indicating that a hydrolytic cleavage of the endotoxin molecule had not occurred. In addition, it was shown that the reduction of the second fever peak in papain-inactivated endotoxin could be explained on the basis of a normal dose-response phenomenon. These findings suggest that there is no disagreement between the inactivation of a purified endotoxin by papain and the observed correlation of the biological activity of endotoxin with the polysaccharide portion of the molecule.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.