Abstract
The heart of a rabbit sensitized to goat serum, tested in a blood-free condition by perfusion with 7 per cent. to 10 per cent. goat serum, is more resistant than a normal rabbit heart similarly tested. The increased resistance is shown by the absence of the initial tachycardia, the absence or delayed development of the secondary tachycardia, and a prolongation of the life of the isolated organ.
Hearts of rabbits sensitized or immunized by repeated injections with goat serum, are more resistant than those sensitized with a single injection.
Normal rabbit serum, corpuscles or defibrinated blood, added to the perfusion fluid, decreases its toxicity. The antitoxic action of defibrinated blood is apparently equal to the sum of the antitoxic actions of its serum and corpuscles.
Anaphylactic rabbit serum similarly added usually markedly increases the toxicity of the perfusion fluid. Such an anaphylactic serum mixture may completely inactivate a normal heart within from two to four minutes. Hearts of anaphylactic and immune rabbits are more resistant than normal hearts to such mixtures.
The active principle of the anaphylactic serum responsible for this increased toxicity is thermo-labile, the toxin-increasing or toxin-producing power being completely lost, if the serum is heated to 60° C. for 30 minutes.
The active principle is not complement, since such inactivated anaphylactic sera cannot be reactivated by the addition of un-heated normal serum.
The active principle is presumably not precipitin, since the specific precipitins of rabbit serum are not destroyed, or at least not completely destroyed, by heating the serum to 60° C. for 30 minutes.
The active principle is not complement, since such inactivated anaphylactic sera cannot be reactivated by the addition of unheated normal serum.
The active principle is presumably not precipitin, since the specific precipitins of rabbit serum are not destroyed, or at least not completely destroyed, by heating the serum to 60° C. for 30 minutes.
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