Abstract
Summary
Supernatant fluid of a liquid culture medium growing phase I Bordetella pertussis strain 3779 B was found to possess a marked leukocytosis stimulating property when injected intravenously in sheep, calves, and goats. At high doses, the animals also showed anaphylactoid reactions and death. Doses which produced a leukocytosis also caused a marked leukocytopenia and transient fever within the first 3 hr following injection. This acute, transient leukocytopenia was mainly due to a severe neutropenia. Arterial blood leukocyte counts were lower than the venous blood counts during the initial leukocytopenic phase in the sheep. Aggregations of leukocytes were found surrounding the alveoli and the bronchioles in the lung of sheep at the time of blood leukocytopenia. These animals had been given tritiated thymidine prior to pertussis supernatant; and the tritium radioactivity in the lungs, liver, and bone marrow was found to be significantly higher at 3 hr post-pertussis dose compared to the saline-treated control. The results suggest that the acute leukocytopenic and febrile response was due to an endotoxin of B. pertussis.
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