Action of Diethyl Ether on Histamine Release in Anaphylaxis. ∗

Abstract

Anesthesia is known to lessen the intensity of anaphylactic shock; sensitized guinea pigs, under anesthesia, are more likely to survive the injection of the antigen. 1 , 2 From experiments in which sensitized guinea pig uteri were suspended in urethane solution and did not contract upon addition of the antigen, Farmer 3 recently concluded that: (a) the anesthetic does not prevent the union between antigen and antibody, since the uteri did not contract either upon re-administration of the antigen, when the narcotic had been washed out and the response to histamine was restored, and (b) that the anesthetic inhibits the action of histamine released in shock, while it does not interfere with its release. The following is a report on experimerits in which the action of diethyl ether on the histamine release in anaphylaxis of guinea pig tissues was studied.

One or two isolated lung lobes, one uterine horn, or one seminal vesicle from guinea pigs previously sensitized to egg-albumen, were incubated according to Schild 4 in small amounts of antigen solution at 37°C for 10 minutes. After boiling in a water bath, the incubation fluid was then assayed for histamine on the atropinized guinea pig's ileum. While these tissues released considerable amounts of histamine when in contact with the antigen proving that the animal was well sensitized and that its tissues were capable of histamine release, the other lung lobes and the second uterine horn or seminal vesicle failed to do so, when they had been previously etherized for periods of 20 to 40 minutes. Incubation in 0.25 to 3% ether in Locke's solution usually resulted in no release, or a greatly reduced one, of detectable amounts of histamine upon subsequent incubation with antigen.