Abstract
Further comparative studies of the soluble specific substance of Avery and Heidelberger and of the specific “cellular carbohydrate” 1 by means of the experimental induction of anaphylactic shock have given additional information regarding the antigenic activities of these preparations. Avery and Tillett 2 induced fatal anaphylactic shock in passively sensitized guinea pigs with the homologous soluble specific substance of the pneumococcus, and Enders 3 reported that antiserum, after precipitation with soluble specific substance, still sensitized guinea pigs to his “A” substance but not to the soluble specific substance. This report records experiments with the type-I specific substances injected intracardially into guinea pigs which had been passively sensitized with type-I antipneumococcus rabbit serum 24 or 48 hours previously.
The minimum amount of immune serum necessary to sensitize guinea pigs so that fatal shock developed when they were injected intracardially with soluble specific substance was always greater than that required in the case of the cellular carbohydrate. On the other hand, the minimum amount of each of the specific substances which induced fatal shock in the guinea pig previously sensitized by the injection of 1 cc. of immune rabbit serum was approximately the same.
A subcutaneous injection of 1 mg., but not 0.1 mg., of soluble specific substance 24 hours after sensitization desensitized the guinea pigs completely to a subsequent intracardial injection (24 hours later) of soluble specific substance, but not to an injection of cellular carbohydrate. One mg. of the latter, however, desensitized entirely to the soluble specific substance and partially (no fatal shocks) to the cellular carbohydrate.
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