A note on anaphylaxis

Abstract

Rosenau and Anderson in their first communication on hyper-susceptibility reported their attempts to destroy or remove the toxic substances from horse serum. They treated the serum, which was used for the second injection, by various physical and chemical means, such as, heating the serum to 60° C., filtering through porcelain, drying, freezing, precipitation and dialysis, and by direct addition to the serum for various lengths of time of such chemicals as potassium permanganate, hydrogen peroxide, succinic acid and butyric acid, also various antiseptics, all without success. Continuing their investigations they reported, in their second communication, the influence of ferments, alkaloids, salts and such substances as ox bile, animal charcoal and yeast cells. These gave negative results.

One of us took up the problem from another standpoint, i. e., to treat the sensitized animal with drugs just prior to the second injection. In the preliminary experiments morphin sulphate was used with negative results. Following this, chloral hydrate was employed to produce hypnosis and it was found that sensitized guinea-pigs could be protected with this drug. After our experiments with chloral hydrate were well advanced, Besredka's communication came to our attention, in which he claimed that ether and also calcium chloride exerted a protective action when administered to sensitized guinea-pigs before the second injection of the serum.

We found by injecting a solution of chloral hydrate which was just sufficient to produce hypnosis, that fully 75 per cent. of all serum sensitized guinea-pigs were completely protected from the second injection of serum into the peritoneal cavity, while go per cent. of all the controls died. We believe that with improved technique on the dosage of chloral hydrate, we will be able to protect go per cent.