Abstract
Howell 1 first isolated heparin, which retards the coagulation of blood whether added in vitro or in vivo. Purified, non-toxic heparin was prepared by Charles and Scott. 2 , 3 , 4 This preparation has been demonstrated by Best 5 , 6 , 7 and his co-workers to be non-toxic when injected intravenously into humans.
A new type of transfusion, called for the time being, an “exchange transfusion,” has been carried out experimentally by using heparin∗ as a non-coagulant. After removing both kidneys from a dog the animal's blood urea increases rapidly. The morning after bilateral nephrectomy this animal and a donor animal are anesthetized by nembutalf injected intravenously. Cannulae are inserted into the femoral artery and vein of one leg of each animal. At this time a small amount of heparin was injected intravenously into each animal. With a SO cc. all-glass syringe 200 cc. of blood is transferred from the donor animal into the azotemic one, and then from the azotemic animal to the donor animal. This exchange of blood is carried out 20-40 times. Samples of blood were obtained from each animal before the transfusion, after 20 exchanges of blood and after 40 exchanges. The azotemia of the nephrectomized animal was markedly reduced. Correspondingly, azotemia was produced in the donor animal.
In each of the 6 experiments (only one typical experiment is given in detail) the donor animal's condition was normal the morning after, and the blood urea, which had been elevated, also had returned to a normal level. When the donor animals were sacrificed from one to 3 weeks later their kidneys were found to be normal both grossly and microscopically.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.