Abstract
Summary
1. Large doses of cortisone failed to protect guinea pigs against active or passive anaphylactic shock. These results are in agreement with those of other investigators (3,4). 2. Treatment with this hormone during period of active sensitization diminished the intensity of the Arthus reaction and the quantity of circulating antibody produced. Neither of these effects was as extensive as those observed in rabbits following the administration of comparatively smaller doses of cortisone (1,2) Similarly, the anatomic changes produced by cortisone were less striking in the guinea pig than in the rabbit (8). These findings suggest that the guinea pig is considerably more resistant to the action of cortisone. The failure of cortisone to abolish the active Arthus reaction and possibly its failure to alter active anaphylactic shock might have been related to the incomplete suppression of circulating antibody under the experimental conditions employed.
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