Abstract
Last year we 1 demonstrated for the first time that normal guinea pigs, when exposed to an organic dust such as horse dander, could become sensitized through inhalation. Guinea pigs, thus sensitized, when again placed in contact with the same dust after a suitable incubation period, demonstrated unmistakable signs of anaphylaxis which we termed “respiratory anaphylaxis” and which we believed to be identical with bronchial asthma in the human being. This was offered as a method for studying asthma experimentally in the animal.
Recently, Figley and Elrod 2 reported the occurrence of a large number of cases of asthma resulting from the inhalation of castor bean dust “pomace” thrown into the air from the pipes of a castor oil factory. To determine whether pomace was an anaphylactogen and could be the cause of asthma, we proceeded to study the problem of pomace asthma in the guinea pig. The pomace came from the above castor oil factory.
Thirty-seven normal guinea pigs were placed for several hours in glass cages in which pomace was kept in circulation by currents of air. After an incubation period of about 3 weeks, 2 of these animals were given an intravenous injection of 0.5 cc. of a crystal clear alkaline extract of this pomace. Both animals showed definite anaphylaxis, one dying within a few minutes and demonstrating typical anaphylactic lungs, and the other going into collapse with marked dyspnea and finally recovering. These 2 animals established the fact that sensitization could be accomplished by inhalation of pomace.
Of the remaining 35 animals, 17 died 6 to 7 days after the sensitizing inhalation of pomace, with definite evidences of ricin poisoning. However, besides the classical abdominal pathology of ricin poisoning, we noted in many of the animals a severe hemorrhagic condition of the lungs. We first attributed this lung condition to the entrance of ricin through the .nasal passages but we obtained similar results later when the pomace extract was injected.
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