Anaphylaxis

Our results indicate that in heart-lung perfusion experiments on normal and sensitized dogs, the phenomena consisting of a 50 to 75 per cent reduction in rate of flow of perfusion fluid, the development of a rubbery consistency of the lungs and the appearance of a tracheal exudate, all in four to seven minutes are not peculiar to the sensitized dog as judged by the blood pressure and coagulation time phenomena. While these do not correlate with other and at present accepted criteria of sensitization, yet a quantitative study of our data suggests that a probable change in permeability in heart-lung tissue, perhaps independent of anaphylaxis, does frequently result from the injection of horse serum in a dog. Experiments in passive sensitization show that marked variation exists in either ability to take up antibody or refractoriness to the shocking dose of antigen. This observation indicates that negative results on a single recipient are not an accurate criterion of deficiency or absence of antibodies in the donor's blood.