Effects in the Rat of Intradermal Injection of Purified Proteinases from Streptococcus and Serratia Marcescens 1

Abstract

Summary

Purified streptococcal proteinase and Serratia proteinase are potent permeability factors in rat skin and initiate histopathological evidence of an acute inflammatory response. These effects appear to be largely independent of terminal components of complement, histamine, and polymorphonuclear leukocytes.

The authors thank Ms. Lillian Clark and Ms. Sue Holmes for histological preparation of the slides and Dr. Ronald Maenza for photographing them. We are grateful to Drs. Maenza and Peter B. Hukill for helpful discussions on the interpretation of the histopathology.