So-Called “Serum Sickness” in Rabbits Following the Intravenous Injection of Various Foreign Serums

[摘要] 1. 1. Evidence of so-called “serum sickness” occurred in 10 out of 36 rabbits following a single intravenous injection of normal horse serum. The positive reactions were obtained in the winter. During the summer a series of 12 animals gave entirely negative results.2. 2. Attempts to produce similar reaction in rabbits with other foreign serums, such as normal human, sheep, guinea pig and dog serum were unsuccessful, irrespective of the time of the year the experiments were performed.3. 3. There were no differences in precipitin production or antigen elimination in rabbits which developed local serum reactions when compared with those which failed to show any symptoms at all.4. 4. Various observations suggest that the occurrence of serum sickness in man may be due to a peculiarity of horse serum. Since most of the human reactions follow the administration of therapeutic horse serum it would be interesting to learn whether serum sickness occurs in human beings after the injection of foreign serums other than that of the horse. The observations of Kraus suggest that serum sickness in man can be largely avoided by the use of cattle immune serums. We intend to endeavor to parallel these results in rabbits using the serums of immune animals of some of the species employed in the production of therapeutic antiserums.

[学科分类] 生物科学（综合）