Abstract
While attempting to purify botulinus toxin by precipitation with ethyl alcohol, we found that the alcohol causes destruction of this toxin. Even a weak solution (20-30 per cent.) of ethyl alcohol is capable of quickly destroying many thousand lethal doses of botulinus toxin in vitro. This destruction takes only five to ten minutes if the mixture is kept at 37° C. On the other hand the toxins of tetanus and diphtheria are much more resistant to the destructive effects of alcohol.
It had been observed in several outbreaks of botulism that those who had partaken freely of alcoholic beverages while eating the incriminated food were not severely affected or remained entirely well, whereas others eating as much or even less of the same food were severely and sometimes fatally poisoned.
We assumed that this protection from botulinus poisoning when alcoholic beverages are partaken might be due to the direct destructive action of the ethyl alcohol on the toxin in the stomach. The problem was approached experimentally. Two series of three guinea pigs each of equal weight received each per os enough botulinus toxin to kill them within 24 to 48 hours. Each guinea pig of one of the series received 6 c.c. of 30 per cent. alcohol per os immediately following the toxin. The guinea pigs of the first series died within the usual time, whereas the animals which received the alcohol survived and are apparently normal two weeks after the experiment.
The effect of alcohol must be ascribed solely to its direct destructive action upon botulinus toxin. This action is quite unlike etherization 1 which delays the rate of absorption of botulinus toxin. That alcohol destroys botulinus toxin only by direct action is shown by the following experiments: Guinea pigs receiving botulinus toxin by the mouth die within the usual incubation period observed in normal controls despite the administration of large amounts of alcohol subcutaneously.
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