Abstract
Passive sensitization shows that the serum contains an antibody which has an essential part in the production of anaphylaxis. The presence of this antibody renders the animal sensitive to the action of the antigen and the character of the ensuing reaction is determined by functional peculiarities of various tissues of the body. If the union of antigen and antibody is sufficient to produce these changes it would be possible not only to sensitize animals to antigen by administration of antibody but to sensitize to antibody by previous treatment with antigen as well. One of us 1 has published observations which show that an animal treated with horse serum reacts with acute inflammation when serum of a rabbit immunized against horse serum is injected into its dermis. The usual procedure employed to produce the Arthus phenomenon has been reversed and inflammatory oedema is caused by the antibody injected into the skin of animals sensitized by antigen.
We have found that anaphylactic shock occurs in rabbits sensitized by previous injection of horse serum, beef serum or egg white when the corresponding anti-serum is injected into the blood stream. Guinea pigs have proven unfavorable for these experiments; on the one hand, rabbit's serum is toxic for guinea pigs in the amount required for the experiment and on the other hand antibody formation is relatively weak in guinea pigs so that guinea pig serum is ineffective.
It is noteworthy that when precipitin and its antigen are brought together, minimum precipitation occurs when the amount of anti-serum is several hundred times that of the antigen employed in its production. Likewise in the production of anaphylactic shock, the volume of antiserum required is greatly in excess of the corresponding antigen.
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