bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Study of the “VI” Antigen of Felix and Pitt
Authors: Almon Lois , Stovall W. D.
Published: January 2023

The ability of some cultures of Eberthella typhosa to cause the production of an antibody not produced by some other cultures of the same species has been confirmed. With one marked exception it was found that fourteen cultures giving evidence of possessing the antigen responsible for this action retained their characteristics with minor fluctuations during two years of observation. The antigen was not found to be deleteriously acted upon by growing the cultures at room temperature. Killing the cultures with 0.4 per cent formaldehyde or the combined action of 0.5 per cent phenol and 33 per cent alcohol did not affect the agglutinogenic properties of the so-called “Vi” component. However, growing the organisms on agar containing phenol, 1:900, or killing them with heat, merthiolate, or phenol alone changed or destroyed this attribute.

It was found that twenty-four-hour agar cultures were better suited for the demonstration of hypoagglutinability in O antisera than four-hour broth cultures and were just as well suited for agglutination in “Vi” antiserum and reactivity to phage as the latter.

In a comparison of methods for determining the presence of the “Vi” antigen it appeared that sensitivity to the bacteriophage of Craigie, agglutinability by “Vi” antiserum, and the ability of the culture to kill one or more mice in a dose of 100 million organisms were well correlated, but that the phage reaction was most easily demonstrated. Quantitative relationships could not be shown to obtain by the simultaneous use of the methods tested.
Studies on Acquired Immunity in Rabbits to Intranasal Infection with Type I Pneumococcus
Authors: Walsh Theodore E. , Cannon Paul R.
Published: January 2023

Summary and Conclusions

The susceptibility and resistance of rabbits to intranasal infection with a virulent type I pneumococcus were determined in a large series of animals, both in normal and in those immunized locally by specific and non-specific methods. The results may be summarized as follows: The intranasal instillation in normal rabbits of relatively small volumes of pneumococcal cultures causes death by septicemia in more than 90 per cent of instances.Intranasal vaccination of rabbits for five or more days with a formalin-killed culture of pneumococcus type I or with a pneumococcus autolysate, confers practically complete protection against later intranasal instillation of large quantities of living pneumococci of the same strain.Intranasal stimulation by the repeated instillation of non-specific irritants, such as solutions of formalin, tannic acid or alum, or of a bacterial vaccine of killed paratyphoid bacilli, confers no protection against later intranasal infection with living pneumococci. The protective effect of specific immunization, therefore, is not due merely to the local mobilization of cells of inflammation.Intranasal immunization with a pneumococcal vaccine is superior to intragastric immunization, proving that the protective effect is not due to ingestion of the vaccine after intranasal instillation.Intranasally vaccinated rabbits may resist intranasal infection at a time when no protective antibodies can be demonstrated in their blood serums by the mouse-protection test. Such animals, however, may possess general immunity against intravenous injection of living pneumococci. The immunity against pneumococcal infection is, therefore, not a strictly local immunity of the upper respiratory tract in the sense suggested by Besredka and by Bull and McKee, although the antibody level in the blood serum may be extremely low in animals highly protected against intranasal infection. In the case of infection of a highly susceptible animal with a virulent microörganism, the absolute separation of local and general processes of immunity is exceedingly difficult.
Observations on the Interpretation of Schick Tests
Authors: Brandon K. F. , Fraser D. T.
Published: January 2023

Licensed (U. S.) Schick-products of different manufacturers give inconsistent results. Of the 87 individuals Schick-tested each with 6 different products, 30 (34 per cent) showed inconsistencies and 23 (26 per cent) showed frank disagreement in the readings. Reactions to the toxins of the Schick-outfits were remarkably constistent with the exception of one product. Errors in interpreting the “Schick-immunity” were usually due to the inconsistent reactions ensuing upon the Schick-control. False interpretations of the Schick-test are most frequently made in the group of persons skin sensitive to diphtheria-protein. Products containing dilute toxoid as a Schick-control were the only ones which resulted in no errors of interpretation of the “Schick-immunity” of the persons tested. All products using heated toxin as a control gave some false results. Our findings substantiate the fact that the antitoxin-level of “Schick-immunity” lies between 1/500 and 1/250 of a unit of antitoxin, when the Schick-test-material conforms to the standard recommended by the League of Nations.
Observations on the Dissociation of Meningitic Strains of H. Influenzae
Authors: Fothergill LeRoy D. , Chandler Caroline A. , Spencer Margaret
Published: January 2023

A homogeneous group of smooth, virulent, meningeal strains of H. influenzae was dissociated into rough avirulent variants.

The rough variants were studied immunologically and were found to form a heterogeneous group of organisms.

It is suggested that the well-known heterogeneity of the strains of Hemophilus influenzae isolated from the nasopharynx during epidemics of influenza may depend upon the dissociation of the smooth homogeneous form to the rough type characterized by extraordinary serological divergency.
Serologic Specificity of Lung Tissue
Authors: Salfeld Hans , Weichsel Manfred
Published: January 2023

The serum of rabbits immunized with alcoholic extracts of beeflung in combination with hog serum or with beef lung suspensions reacted strongly with beef lung lipoid in complement fixation tests.

The antiserum did not react with alcoholic extracts of other beef organs.

There was a slight reaction with alcoholic extracts of lungs of heterologous species.

The positive reactions were intensified by the addition of commercial lecithin to the fixing reagents.

Boiling for a short time did not destroy the fixing reagent.

Skin-tests according to a method described by Shwartzman proved negative.
Precipitin Reactions Between Hemolytic Streptococci of Various Groups and Immune and Rheumatoid Arthritic Sera
Authors: Chasis Herbert , McEwen Currier
Published: January 2023

Cross-reactions were obtained with crude C-extracts of hemolytic streptococci of various groups used in precipitative tests with immune human and rabbit sera and sera of patients with rheumatoid arthritis, rheumatic fever and convalescent scarlet fever. From the results obtained it seems probable that these cross-reactions were due to the presence in such sera of antibodies against a non-group-specific fraction or radical present in the bacteria and in the crude C-extracts. Evidence was obtained indicating that this substance is not the “nucleoprotein” fraction P and suggesting that it is of non-proteic nature.
Further Observations on the Adsorption of Sensitized Bacteria
Authors: Olitzki Leo , Guggenheim Karl
Published: January 2023

Comparing these results with those reported formerly (Olitzki, 1934) it appears that the results obtained by the method of Bedson and Bland (1929) agree in most particulars with those obtained by cataphoresis. We have confirmed the fact, that in the case of Proteus bacilli and some strains of the Enteritidis group the H forms showed a higher migrative velocity than the corresponding O forms. It seems however, that this does not apply generally to all strains of the Salmonella group.

The specific effect of sera containing only H agglutinin on the charge of H forms formerly described for Proteus strains could be confirmed for all strains tested by this method.

Sensitization of Proteus bacteria with O agglutinins reduced only the migration of the O strains, if contact with the serum was 10 minutes or less. This result also agrees with that of previous experiments (1934), where the bacteria were subjected to cataphoresis immediately after coming in contact with the immune serum. The simplified method of Bedson and Bland made it possible to test the bacteria after different times of exposure to immune serum and showed that longer contact with O serum also affected the migration of H forms. The experiments with B. proteus further showed that the effect of O agglutinins was delayed by the presence of H antigen. In the Salmonella group no differences were found between the behaviour of H and O forms of the same strain.

The observation (Olitzki, 1934), that agglutination with H + O sera reduces the charge of all bacterial cells present in a culture-suspension could be confirmed only for Proteus bacteria and O agglutinable strains of the typhoid group. The inagglutinable virulent strains remained unaffected. On the other hand these strains were affected to a certain degree by Vi sera, and a maximal effect was obtained by sera containing O + Vi agglutinins. It seems to be a general rule that a complete alteration of surface-properties can be obtained only, if all partial antigens of the bacterial body are sensitized.
A Natural Hemolysin from the Rat Producing Nuclear Lysis of Chicken Erythrocytes
Authors: Weinman David
Published: January 2023

An undescribed natural hemolysin for chicken erythrocytes was found in the blood of 18 rats. Hemolysis was regularly observed with 1 cc. of a 10 per cent dilution of serum. We did not detect any group distribution of the hemolysin. A Bartonella muris infection, neither in the latent, nor in the active form producing anemia, caused any detectable change in the hemolytic activity of the sera tested. Karyolysis of the erythrocyte nucleus was constant and marked in degree, as well as in the number of cells affected. In respect to the effect upon the nucleus, this natural hemolysin differs from those previously reported as well as from the immune hemolysins investigated. A detailed study of the cellular changes undergone during hemolysis was undertaken with this unusually favorable material.
A Study of the Origin of Naturally Occurring Immune Bodies for Pneumococci in Infants
Authors: Sutliff W. D. , Davies John A. V.
Published: January 2023

Type specific antibodies for pneumococci are present in man in a large proportion of individuals after the age of 2 years. In a previous discussion (1) one of the authors (W. D. S.) suggested that these antibodies may be the result of contact with each individual bacterial antigen. The present report is a description of tests conducted to test this hypothesis. A group of children were selected who had no antibodies for the 3 strains of pneumococcus most common in disease. During a period in which it was expected that type specific antibodies would appear in the serum of some of these subjects, frequent observations were made of the nasopharyngeal bacterial flora. The pneumococci that were found in the throat cultures of these individuals were then compared with the antibodies that developed.

Methods and Subjects. The plan was carried out as follows.
Experimental Studies on Encephalitis Virus of 1935 Epidemic in Tokyo with Special Reference to Its Serological Difference from the Virus of St. Louis Encephalitis
Authors: Kudo Masashiro , Uraguchi Kenji , Matsuda Suna , Hashimoto Hirotoshi
Published: January 2023

In September, 1935, we (1, 2) isolated two strains of a filtrable virus, transmissible to mice, from two fatal cases of epidemic encephalitis in Tokyo. A number of similar virus strains were obtained by Kawamura and Kodama, Kasahara, Taniguchi, Kobayashi, Mitamura, Takaki, Takeuchi, Kaneko and others in this city and other districts of Japan, where the disease prevailed in the same widespread epidemic. All of these investigators have unanimously recognized the uniformity in virus-characteristics of the various strains. Making use of specific immune rabbit sera for cross neutralization tests, we have been able to show that the two above mentioned strains isolated by ourselves, and two other strains isolated in another institute, belong to a single virus. One of our strains (Kalinina), sent to other investigators, was identified by them with their own strains.

Kawamura and Kodama (3), Taniguchi (4), Kasahara (5), and Kaneko (6) showed that neutralizing antibodies were present in the sera of convalescent encephalitic patients.
Studies on Serum Fractions
Authors: Ando K. , Kee R. , Komiyama T.
Published: January 2023

By immunizing rabbits with injections of washed flocculi of diphtheria-toxoid-antitoxin or specific precipitates of pneumococcic S.S.S. an antiserum reacting with horse-serum can be obtained. For lack of a better name the antiserum prepared with the former flocculi has been termed “precipitin-versus-antitoxin (P.V.At.)” and that with the latter precipitate “precipitin-versus-antibacterial antibody (P.V.Ab.).” By the optimal-proportions-method of Dean and Webb it was found that P.V.At. shows only one zone with all the sera tested, antitoxic, antibacterial and normal horse-sera. The fraction reacting with P.V.At. was found mainly in the water-soluble fraction of the serum tested. P.V.Ab. showed two zones when tested against antitoxic sera, one or two against antibacterial and normal horse-sera. In cases of only one zone the presence of two antigen-antibody systems was shown by using serum-fractions and also by absorption of P.V.Ab. by diluted antidiphtheric serum. The zone that appears in the water-insoluble fraction was named “primary zone” and that in the water soluble fraction “secondary zone.” Taylor and Adair (13) concluded from their experiments that while (a) a single zone does not necessarily indicate a single antigen-antibody system, (b) multiple zones suggest the presence of more than one antigen-antibody system. The fraction giving rise to the primary zone against P.V.Ab. was designated as “B-fraction or Felton-fraction” and that causing the zone against P.V.At. as “A-fraction.” Relation of the secondary zone to A-fraction was suggested. The supernatent of the mixture of P.V.Ab. with an antitoxic serum in their optimal proportion of the secondary zone showed only one zone with all the antitoxic and most of the antibacterial sera tested, while it did not show any zone at all when tested against some normal horse sera. These sera were taken from ponies and horses of a horse breeding station. If the ratio of different sera to P.V.At. or P.V.Ab. may be taken as an indication of the relative amount of respective fraction, it may be concluded from table 7 that the A-fraction-content is larger in antitoxic sera than in antibacterial ones while the B-fraction-content of the former is much smaller than that of the latter and also that the B-fraction-content of some normal horse sera was hardly detectable.
Studies in Experimental Hypersensitiveness in the Rhesus Monkey
Authors: Straus Henry W.
Published: January 2023

Rhesus monkeys have been artificially sensitized to poison ivy. Such sensitized animals have been shown also to be specifically sensitive to poison oak. This not only demonstrates the common antigenic principle in the two substances but confirms the specific nature of the cutaneous reactions obtained. Sensitivity lasts at least 8 months.

For experiments in contact-dermatitis the Rhesus monkey presents advantages over other laboratory animals because he is more closely related to man, and because, as judged by these experiments, his reactions very closely simulate those previously observed in human infants. Further investigations, which are impracticable in humans, are made possible by the use of the Rhesus monkey.
Studies in Experimental Hypersensitiveness in the Rhesus Monkey
Authors: Straus Henry W.
Published: January 2023

Introduction. The writer's interest in this field was stimulated by his success in artificially inducing poison ivy hypersensitiveness in rhesus monkeys and by the striking similarity of the induced lesions to those observed in humans (1).

The first work on local passive sensitization of the skin of monkeys with human reaginic sera was published by Grove in 1928. Monkeys of the ringtail variety and also two chimpanzees were used in her attempt to induce local sensitization of the skin with human serum by the method of Prausnitz and Küstner. The skin of the monkey's thigh or abdomen was injected with 0.2 cc. of the sensitizing human serum. The following day the site was tested for the presence of reagins with an extract of the related atopen (ragweed, horse serum, Le Page's glue, and cottonseed). Grove (2) described her results as follows:

Without going into details, the results of local skin sensitization of the lower monkeys are on the whole negative.
Blood Grouping Tests on 300 Mummies
Authors: Boyd William C. , Boyd Lyle G.
Published: January 2023

Blood grouping tests, by the absorption-technic, are described on over 300 mummies, American and Egyptian. In several samples a specific absorptive power indicated the presence of A and B. Such results were obtained with certain Basket Maker and Peruvian mummies, and in particular, among the Egyptians, A and B seem to be present in certain predynastic mummies more than 5,000 years old. The precipitin-reaction was doubtfully positive in a small number of specimens.
The Rôle of the Liver in Acute Anaphylactic Shock in the Guinea Pig
Authors: Broh-Kahn R. H. , Mirsky I. Arthur
Published: January 2023

Frequent attempts have been made to ascribe to a particular organ, or group of organs, the reaction inducing the response of the sensitized animal to a second injection of the foreign protein. Fatal anaphylactic shock in the intact organism is probably a complex syndrome in which most, if not all, of the tissues of the body participate. However, numerous investigators have attempted to implicate the reticulo-endothelial system as essential for anaphylaxis (Hill and Martin (1)). The liver, in particular, has received much attention and the claim has been made that the hepatic tissues play an essential rôle in the definite syndrome associated with acute anaphylactic shock in the guinea pig (2, 3).

Various methods have been employed to test this hypothesis. The most frequent appears to have been “blockade” of the hepatic reticulo-endothelial system. Such a procedure has given conflicting results (1).
Quantitative Changes in Antibodies and Globulin Fractions in Sera of Rabbits Injected with Several Antigens
Authors: Boyd William C. , Bernard Helene
Published: January 2023

Simultaneous measurements of the globulins (by Howe's method) and antibody (in terms of milligrams per milliliter in sera of rabbits immunized with different combinations of antigens, confirm previous work, showing an almost invariable rise in the globulins, affecting most the fractions precipitated by 13.5 and 17.4 per cent Na2SO4. These fractions contained the antibody in most instances. The amount of antibody produced never exceeded 35 per cent of the globulins in the serum, but in some cases exceeded the amount of any one of the three fractions of globulin. There was some evidence that simultaneous injection of many antigens produces less total antibody than the injection of only a single antigen.
Flocculation of Alcoholic Red Cell Extracts by Different Types of Human Heterogenetic Hemagglutinins
Authors: Schiff Fritz
Published: January 2023

Much attention has been paid recently to the serologic properties of human sera in cases of infectious mononucleosis and horse serum sickness. Although both types of sera contain agglutinins to sheep erythrocytes, the antibodies are not identical and can be differentiated by means of absorption tests (1–11). It seemed desirable to study serological reactions other than hemagglutination and hemolysis tests. The present paper deals with the flocculation of alcoholic extracts of red cells.

As shown by Landsteiner and van der Scheer (12), alcoholic red cell extracts frequently give flocculation with the sera of rabbits immunized with red cells. Similar reactions with human sera containing immune hemagglutininins or hemolysins have not yet been observed but are to be expected in case the specific red cell substance can be extracted with alcohol.
The Nonspecificity of the Flocculative Phase of Serologic Aggregation
Authors: Hooker Sanford B. , Boyd William C.
Published: January 2023

Some objections are offered to the Marrack-Heidelberger lattice-hypothesis which attributes the second phase of serologic aggregation to an immunochemically specific mechanism.

The results of experiments on the speed of formation, and the nature of aggregates produced in mixed, antigenically independent systems are in better accord with the older conception that flocculation is a secondary and nonspecific phase of precipitative or agglutinative reactions. It appears that particles grow to visible size by the indiscriminate and nonspecific accretion of other related or unrelated, small or large, aggregates whose primary nuclei are molecules or particles of antigen coated with antibody-globulin.
The Effect of Sulfanilamide (Para-Amino-Benzenesulfonamide) on Group “C” Hemolytic Streptococcus Infections
Authors: Seastone C. V.
Published: January 2023

The effect of sulfanilamide (para-aminobenzenesulfonamide) on 2 strains of group “C” hemolytic streptococcus has been studied. The chronic disease produced by one of these strains was not affected by the drug after the infection was well established. When it was administered simultaneously with the injection of the streptococcus, infection was much delayed, or entirely prevented.

With the other strain, which produces an acutely fatal disease, sulfanilamide prevented the infection altogether. After the repeated injection of a lethal dose of this organism, followed each time by a curative course of the drug, no immunity was developed.
Ascorbic Acid and Complement Function
Authors: Ecker E. E. , Pillemer L. , Wertheimer D. , Gradis H.
Published: January 2023

A correlation has been shown to exist between the concentration of ascorbic acid in the blood serum of guinea pigs and the complementing activity of the serum.

In vivo, this parallelism holds true until a definite level of ascorbic acid is reached at about 1 mgm. per 100 cc. of serum.

Serums treated in vitro with optimum quantities of ascorbic acid show a distinct rise of complementing activity and increased stability.
Staphylococcic Alum Toxoid
Authors: Farrell L. N. , Kitching J. S.
Published: January 2023

Staphylococcic toxoid was precipitated with 0.5 to 7.0 per cent potassium alum added in 10 per cent aqueous solution. The maximum yield was obtained over the range 1.5 to 3 per cent alum. Greater purification, as measured by nitrogen content, was obtained with either more or less alum, but the yield was sharply reduced. The yield was greater when the precipitation was carried out at 20°C. than at 4 to 8°C. and when the mixture was stirred constantly. No loss in purity was found with these modifications. The antigenic potency of alum-precipitated staphylococcic toxoid and of the solution of the precipitate in rochelle salt was tested on rabbits and horses. As a primary stimulus, the alum preparations were definitely better than the unmodified toxoid, the alum-tartrate solution being intermediate in value. As a secondary stimulus, no significant difference was observed. The superiority of the alum preparations would appear to lie mainly in the much earlier response obtained. This was particularly well shown in the hyperimmunization of two horses. The toxic properties of certain toxoid preparations were not removed by alum-precipitation.
The Antigenic Structure of Hemolytic Streptococci of Lancefield Group A
Authors: Mudd Stuart , Czarnetzky E. J. , Lackman David , Pettit Horace
Published: January 2023

Novel physical means have been used to disintegrate bacterial cells. With the aid of these a new and very labile antigen has been prepared from each of several types of Streptococcus pyogenes (group A, Lancefield). This antigen is the chief component of the surfaces of virulent streptococci in this group. Antibodies against this labile antigen specifically promote agglutination and phagocytosis of, and protect mice against streptococci of corresponding type. Type-specificity may be determined by test-tube agglutination, phagocytosis or mouse-protection with results which are in agreement with type-specificity as determined by Griffith with the method of slide-agglutination. Absorption of sera with labile antigen removes the antibody which determines slide- and tube-agglutination, phagocytosis and mouse-protection. Labile antigen is therefore believed to be the agglutinogen which is the basis of Griffith's classification of types. Labile antigen when detached from the bacterial cell and in solution may be precipitated by immune sera against any type within group A, and by sera prepared by immunization with purified labile antigen itself. Labile antigen may be split by acid hydrolysis into a type-specific fraction and a group-specific fraction which are identical in serologic reactions, respectively, with the type-specific hapten M and the group-specific hapten C. It would appear, therefore, that labile antigen is so oriented, when in the bacterial surface, that the type-specific portion of the molecule is reactive and the group-specific portion is partially or completely unreactive. When in solution the reactions of labile antigen are group-specific. A stable hemolysin-leucocidin has also been isolated from hemolytic streptococci of group A and of other groups. Serologically this substance is a hapten. A crystalline derivative has been prepared which is hemolytic, leucocidic and lethal in small doses for animals. The properties of these substances will be described in detail in a later paper (Czarnetzky, Morgan and Mudd, 1938).
The Antigenic Structure of Hemolytic Streptococci of Lancefield Group A
Authors: Czarnetzky E. J. , Mudd Stuart , Pettit Horace , Lackman David
Published: January 2023

Labile antigens in solution are spontaneously inactivated, i.e., lose their ability to combine with antibody, upon storage for a few days even at refrigerator temperature. They are inactivated by exposure to 56°C. for 30 minutes. Labile antigen has been inactivated by exposure for 10 minutes to pH 10.0 or 1 per cent neutral formalin solution. It is comparatively resistant to acid (pH 2.0). Labile antigens are soluble in 50–70 per cent ethyl alcohol. Labile antigen, prepared by disintegration of the streptococcal cells by physical means, centrifugation, filtration and precipitation at pH approximately 4.5, may be purified by solution in alcohol and recovered by rapid evaporation in vacuo. An alternative procedure for isolating labile antigen in pure state is given in detail; this procedure is in current use. Purified labile antigen from each of two strains has been investigated in the ultracentrifuge by Dr. R. W. G. Wyckoff. Each was reported to be an essentially homogeneous molecular species. The molecular weight was estimated to be of the order of magnitude of 100,000. The instability of labile antigen is in part due to its liability to undergo oxidation. Oxidized labile antigen is unable to combine with antibody. If the oxidation has been gentle, antibody-combining power may be restored by the mild reducing agents cysteine and thioglycolic acid. The presence of these reducing agents can also protect labile antigen from inactivation by oxidation. Labile antigen when treated with sodium bisulfite, is lytic for red blood corpuscles. This hemolytic power is neutralizable by antistreptolysin, by antisera against streptococci within group A or by immune-sera against labile antigen. Hemolytic labile antigen may, however, be differentiated from the oxygen-labile streptolysin of culture filtrates. A number of diverse phenomena seem then to be manifestations under various conditions of a single substance, labile antigen. Labile antigen apparently is the dominant surface antigen of virulent group A streptococci, Griffith's type-specific agglutinogen, and a compound from which group-specific and type-specific haptens are derivable. Labile antigen seems to bear a close relationship also to the oxygen-labile streptolysin of culture filtrates.
Studies of Antimeningococcal Serum
Authors: Sickles Grace M. , Rice Christine E.
Published: January 2023

The agglutinative, precipitative, and complement-fixing activity with meningococcal antigens and with agar was titrated in the serum of horses and rabbits under immunization with meningococci. Type-specific agglutinating activity appeared earlier than nontype-specific activity in both antimeningococcal horse- and rabbit-sera. Although specific activity developed more rapidly in type-I-III monovalent serum than in type-II serum, cross-agglutination or precipitation of heterologous specific polysaccharide was noted earlier in type-II sera. With both horse and rabbit, precipitation and complement-fixation with meningococcal nucleoprotein in the monovalent sera were similar in time of appearance and in titer and were more marked than in the multivalent sera. The immune rabbit-serum fixed complement with the isolated meningococcal polysaccharides; immune horse-serum did not. The standard stock-strains of types I–III and II produced sera quite as specific and equally as high in titer as the more recently isolated type-I-III or -II strains. The precipitation of agar did not parallel the cross-reactions with the heterologous type in these tests. It was comparable in intensity to that in antipneumococcal sera.
An Improved Procedure and Apparatus for Preservation of Sera, Microörganisms and Other Substances—The Cryochem-Process
Authors: Flosdorf Earl W. , Mudd Stuart
Published: January 2023

A process and models of apparatus are described which provide for the preservation of biologics by desiccation in vacuo from the frozen state at greater convenience and lower cost of operation than heretofore. Water-vapor is removed by a specially prepared calcium sulfate which may be regenerated by heat at atmospheric pressure. Procedures for the desiccation of various types of substances are described.
Experiments with Staphylococcal Enterotoxin
Authors: Dolman C. E. , Wilson R. J.
Published: January 2023

Staphylococcal enterotoxin may be detected by the intra-abdominal injection into kittens of filtrates whose α- and β-toxins have been destroyed by heat or formalinization, or have been removed by preliminary absorption with serum containing antibodies to the α- and β-toxins but not to the enterotoxin.

The enterotoxin has definite and specific antigenic properties. The sera of animals immunized with filtrates containing enterotoxin develop neutralizing properties against this antigen.

A specific flocculation reaction, apparently involving the enterotoxin and its antibody, is described. Methods are given whereby the flocculation zone, representing the optimal ratios for neutralization of the enterotoxin in a filtrate by its corresponding antibody, may be distinguished from other flocculation zones due to α- and β-toxin-antitoxin reactions.
Immunization of the Respiratory Tract
Authors: Walsh Theodore E. , Cannon Paul R.
Published: January 2023

Experiments are described in which the distribution of antibodies in tissues following general active and passive immunization was determined. The ratio of tissue-antibodies to serum-antibodies was found to be, on an average, one to ten.

The distribution of antibodies in tissues following immunization by intranasal vaccination was determined and it was found that the ratio of tissue-antibodies to serum-antibodies in tissues regionally vaccinated was on an average one to five. Instances were seen in which the ratio of tissue antibody to serum antibody in such tissues was as high as one to one and two to one.

Animals were vaccinated simultaneously with two antigens, one given regionally, the other generally. In such animals the ratio of tissue-antibody to serum-antibody in regionally vaccinated tissues was consistently higher for the regional antigen than for the general antigen.

The possible explanations for the findings are discussed.

It is suggested that the probable explanation for the findings is the local formation of antibody in the tissues regionally stimulated by antigen.

The importance of regional vaccination in closing a portal of infection is stressed.
Acquired Specific Supersensitivity (Allergy) to Simple Chemicals
Authors: Sulzberger Marion B. , Rostenberg A.
Published: January 2023

Experimental allergic sensitization of the human skin by the application of simple chemicals of known structure has been reported by several authors (1, 5).

Among the advantages of such experiments are the following: The allergens are of definite, known chemical constitution and concentrations, and are therefore free of all the varying, unknown constituents and contaminants that inevitably accompany allergens from natural sources (so-called proteins and other allergens of animal, vegetable, bacterial, or fungous origin). Hence, as far as the allergens are concerned, the conditions of the experiment are exactly reproducible at any time and at any place. This circumstance makes experiments with simple chemicals particularly suitable for the study of factors that may influence the host's susceptibility to sensitization.The allergens are externally applied to the grossly normal skin: thus, the disturbing influence of trauma (injection, scarification, etc.), is excluded.
Non-Specific Factors in Resistance
Authors: Locke Arthur , Main E. R. , Mellon R. R.
Published: January 2023

The capacity for retarding the proliferation of type I pneumococci penetrating to the circulating blood is augmented during fever, through a largely thermal effect; during recovery from sub-fatal type I pneumococcal infection, as a result of the degree of immunity developed; and following administration of sulfanilamide, possibly through (1) oxidation of absorbed sulfanilamide to a derivative capable of inactivating catalase and (2) production of sufficient catalase inhibition to permit accumulation of hydrogen peroxide, within the pneumococcus, to levels incompatible with rapid growth.

Capacity for retarding pneumococcal proliferation can be estimated, in vitro, for the rabbit, and expressed in terms of a C-R index. The C-R index. together with the warming-time, gives information predicting capacity for surviving intradermal infection with type I pneumococcus.

Combined augmentation of capacity for retarding bacterial proliferation and capacity for sustaining function through administration of sulfanilamide and vitamin C to rabbits, with warming-times in the range associated with impaired capacity for resistance, increases the percentage of survival following intradermal, type I pneumococcal infection from a level of 0 to a level of 67—a degree of improvement demonstrating, clearly, the necessity for determining and enhancing the status of the physiologic defense, as well as the status of the immune defense, in working out procedures for combating infection.
Quantitative Studies on the Neutralization of Pathogenic Agents in Tissues by Circulating Antibodies
Authors: Friedemann Ulrich , Zuger Bernard
Published: January 2023

The concentration of antitoxin in the blood-plasma that neutralizes 10 lethal doses of toxin in the brains of the rabbit and the guinea pig is inversely proportional to the susceptibility of the experimental animal. This explains why this concentration is very different for the two animal species in the case of tetanal toxin while it is the same in the case of diphtheric toxin. An attempt is made to explain the divergent results obtained in experiments with poliomyelitis and equine encephalomyelitis by the different susceptibilities of the experimental animals to the two viruses. By means of the formula developed in paper II, the quantity of intravenously injected antibody neutralizing the test-dose of the virus of poliomyelitis in the brain can be calculated from the quantity of antibody necessary to neutralize the test-dose in vitro. The high values thus obtained explain why active and passive immunization of monkeys against poliomyelitis is difficult or impossible. The significance of our results for other immunological problems is discussed.
An Endotoxin from Aspergillus Fumigatus
Authors: Henrici Arthur T.
Published: January 2023

From the finely minced mycelium of a pathogenic mold, Aspergillus fumigatus, there may be obtained an endotoxin. It produces on subcutaneous inoculation a massive gelatinous edema followed by necrosis and ulceration; while hemorrhages, fatty change of the liver, and necrosis of renal tubules occur when it is given intravenously or intraäbdominally. It is not toxic by mouth. It is hemolytic. In guinea pigs it causes paralysis and other nervous symptoms.

The endotoxin is thermolabile, being destroyed in 15 minutes at about 60°C. It is not precipitated by trichloracetic acid or by alcohol. It is not detoxified, but is rather intensified in toxicity by castor-oil soap.

The symptoms and lesions produced, and the chemical properties of the toxin are very similar to those of the toxin of the poisonous mushroom, Amanita phalloides. The Aspergillus toxin differs in being thermolabile.

The Aspergillus toxin is antigenic. Rabbits have been actively immunized, and this immunity has been passively transferred to guinea pigs and mice. The immune serum neutralized the hemolytic action of the toxin in vitro.

It has not been possible to develop a true anaphylaxis against the cell sap of Aspergillus fumigatus, but apparently both rabbits and guinea pigs may be made supersensitive to the toxin. The cell sap does not give rise to a Shwartzman reaction.
The Acquisition of Heterophile Antigen From the Guinea Pig by Eberthella Typhosa and Salmonella Paratyphi
Authors: Holtman D. Frank
Published: January 2023

An experiment was devised to investigate Buchbinder's hypothesis that the antigenic properties of bacteria might be altered by their particular animal hosts. It was found that living bacteria free of heterophile antigen, when placed in collodion sacs and incubated in the peritoneal cavities of guinea pigs for 21 days, acquired the property of engendering anti-sheep hemolysin in rabbits. Killed cultures placed under identical conditions failed to exhibit heterophile phenomena.

The heterospecific rabbit antisera induced upon injection of the living bacterial cells not only caused hemolysis of sheep erythrocytes, but also agglutinated heterologous bacteria grown on horse serum agar, and a bacterium of known heterophile antigenicity. The heterophile antibodies were absorbed from the sera by guinea pig kidney tissue, but not by beef kidney tissue.

Cultures acquiring heterophile antigen from the guinea pig retained the component during 50 daily transfers on a synthetic agar medium, and had lost it after 77 transfers.
The Production in Experimental Animals of Antibodies to Short-Ragweed Pollen (Precipitation, Complement-Fixation, and Anaphylaxis)
Authors: Eagle Harry , Arbesman Carl E. , Winkenwerder Walter
Published: January 2023

Rabbits injected subcutaneously, intraäbdominally, intracutaneously, or intravenously with a suspension of ground short-ragweed pollen, with saline extracts of ground pollen, or with buffered extracts of defatted whole pollen, regularly developed precipitins and complement-fixing antibodies in high titer. One–eighth to one–third gram of extracted pollen-derivative containing approximately 30 mgm. of nitrogen, injected in gradually increasing doses over a four-week period, was found to suffice.

Guinea pigs could be passively sensitized by the intraäbdominal injection of 1 to 4 cc. of these antisera. Forty-seven of 79 pigs died in characteristic anaphylactic shock on the injection of ragweed-extracts 24 to 48 hours after the injection of serum, and 18 of the remaining 32 developed definite although not fatal anaphylaxis. Similarly, 43 of 48 guinea pigs were actively sensitized within four weeks by a single intraäbdominal injection of 0.25 to 4.0 mgm. of pollen-extractive. Twenty-four of these died in acute characteristic anaphylaxis within five minutes after the intracardiac injection of ragweed-extract.

Only a slight degree of cross-reaction was observed between ragweed antisera and either timothy- or plantain-extract.
On the Presence in Rabbit Antisera vs. Ragweed Pollen of Skin-Sensitizing Antibodies Passively Transferable to Man
Authors: Winkenwerder Walter L. , Eagle Harry , Arbesman Carl E.
Published: January 2023

Sixteen of 29 antisera produced in rabbits by the injection of various extracts of short ragweed pollen contained ragweed-specific skin sensitizing antibodies passively transferable to man. There was no regular correlation between the precipitincontent of the serum and its ability to sensitize the human skin. Defatting the pollen, or grinding it in a ball-mill had no apparent effect on its ability to excite the production of skin-sensitizing antibody. Although there was some indication that antisera of animals injected intravenously may contain less of this antibody than those injected subcutaneously or intraäbdominally, further work will be necessary to establish this point.
Investigations on the Pathogenesis of Tetanus
Authors: Friedemann Ulrich , Zuger Bernard , Hollander Alvin
Published: January 2023

From 5 to 80 times more circulating antitoxin is required to protect guinea pigs from death after the intracutaneous and intramuscular than after the intravenous injection of tetanal toxin. The intramuscularly injected guinea pigs may die despite the presence of free antitoxin in the blood. The significance of these results for the question of the permeability of the C-N-S barrier to tetanal toxin and to toxins in general is discussed.
Studies on the Hemolytic Streptococcus
Authors: Stock Aaron H.
Published: January 2023

A method is given for the preparation of a diffusate medium which supports the growth of 70 mgm. of hemolytic streptococci per liter. Each milliliter of filtrate from cultures of hemolytic streptococci of scarlatinal origin contained 10,000 skin test doses of erythrogenic toxin. The total erythrogenic toxic fraction was isolated and concentrated by adsorption on aluminum silicate (Lloyd's reagent) at pH 4.0, elution, ammonium sulphate precipitation, and dialysis. One milligram of substance was obtained per liter of filtrate. One skin test dose was equal to 0.0001 micrograms of substance which contained 10 per cent nitrogen and gave a positive test for carbohydrate. The purified toxin was less stable than the raw toxin of filtrate.

Fractions which gave similar chemical tests, but which contained no erythrogenic toxin, were obtained by the same procedures from culture filtrates of two non-scarlatinal, non-erythrogenic strains of hemolytic streptococci.
The Antigenic Structure of Hemolytic Streptococci of Lancefield Group A
Authors: Zittle Charles A.
Published: January 2023

Type-specific M substance has been extracted from undried, whole streptococci at 37°, 56° and 100°C. The M substance has also been extracted from the residues remaining after sonic disintegration of the organisms and extraction with saline. M is a nucleoprotein which gives color tests for ribose but not for desoxyribose nucleic acid. Millon and Hopkins-Cole reactions are negative or very weakly positive. Ribonuclease produces detectable chemical, but not serological, alteration in preparations of M. A nucleic acid obtained from M was acted on by ribonuclease. The inactivation of the type-specific precipitin reaction of M by trypsin has been confirmed and shown to take place within an unusually short time; simultaneously loss of precipitability with acid has been found to occur. From tryptic digests of M a substance high in phosphorus, not a protein, can be precipitated with alcohol; from the alcoholic solution a biuret-positive, low-phosphorus, non-diffusible component is obtained. The action of chlorine-water on M produces an acid-insoluble substance which is no longer reactive in the precipitin test. The presence of histidine and absence of tyrosine in M suggests that histidine is the site of this reaction. The action of ribonuclease and color tests indicate that the nucleoprotein agglutinogen (NPA) contains both ribose and desoxyribose nucleic acids. The action of trypsin on NPA was found to be accompanied by a loss of precipitability with acid at its flocculation point. A difference was found in the action of crystalline and commercial trypsin. NPA has been shown to be more complex than M since it contains both ribose and desoxyribose nucleic acids and gives positive Millon and Hopkins-Cole reactions.
The Polyvalency of Crotalidic Antivenins
Authors: Githens Thomas S. , Wolff Nigel O'C.
Published: January 2023

An immunizing mixture comprising a small number of rattlesnake venoms produces an antivenin with neutralizing power extending rather widely to venoms of other species of pit viper. Venoms of North American pit vipers form three antigenic groups, as follows: (a) most of the rattlesnake venoms; (b) venoms capable of causing late paralytic symptoms; (c) moccasin venoms. To yield a satisfactory polyvalent antivenin at least one venom from each of these groups must be included in the mixture used for injection of the antivenin-producing animal.
Production and Preservation of Specific Anti-Sera for Blood-Group Factors A, B, M, and N
Authors: Boyd William C.
Published: January 2023

Methods are given for the preparation of group-specific immune sera for blood-group factors A, B, M, and N. For A, and B, methods not requiring human blood are discussed. Methods of preservation are described which have made it possible to keep absorbed group-specific sera in usable condition for more than 5 years.
The Disintegration of Bacteria by Mechanical Means, I, II
Authors: Langner Paul H. , Forrester James S.
Published: January 2023

Summary and Conclusions

A ball mill2 of novel design and operation for the purpose of disintegrating bacteria is described. This mill will effectively disintegrate, at minus 50°C. or at room temperature, bacteria dried from the frozen state and will disintegrate a wet bacterial mass at room temperature. In comparative studies, the mill was found to be somewhat less effective than the sonic oscillator, using percentage yield of total bacterial nitrogen as the standard for comparison. This superior technical value of the sonic oscillator is offset by its much greater original and repair cost. The ball mill described appears to have advantages over other types of ball mills in that it is easy and inexpensive to operate, low in cost, and obtains from small amounts of starting material better yields of soluble nitrogen with a shorter grinding period.
On Serological Differences of the Group-Character A in Different Parts of the Human Organism
Authors: Friedenreich V. , Thyssen G. , Hartmann G.
Published: January 2023

On examination of the agglutinin-fixing property of human A blood corpuscles and of human A saliva it is found that the A antigens of these two sources are not identical; the A of saliva hardly reacts with immune-anti-A, whereas both sorts of A react with isoagglutinin anti-A. Aqueous extracts of submaxillary glands of group A react like a saliva. Extracts of some other glands as well as gastric juice and semen react like the A of blood corpuscles. The A of ox-saliva reacts like the A of human corpuscles. The results are discussed in connection with the problem of the origin of the group-antigens in the secretions.
Studies on Meningococcal Infection
Authors: Scherp Henry W.
Published: January 2023

The immunological properties of a polysaccharide prepared from type I meningococci and of antimeningococcal horse sera were studied by means of a quantitative analysis of the precipitative reaction. The results showed that the polysaccharide was a mixture of precipitinogens, and was therefore not immunologically pure, as was previously thought. The data indicated that the polysaccharide contained not only a type-specific component but also a considerable proportion of a group-specific one; that the monovalent type I serum which was studied contained only type-specific antibody; and that the polyvalent sera which were studied contained more group- than type I-specific antibody.