Non-Specific Factors in Resistance

[摘要] Susceptibility to fatal shock following histamine injection, in the rabbit, is intensified following pretreatment with caffeine, thyroid, vitamin B and cortin: agents capable of producing augmentation of capacity to respond to the stimulus of chilling. Maximal susceptibility is encountered in the warming-time-range of 16 to 20. Procedures providing a preliminary lengthening of the warming-time reduce susceptibility to shock (exhaustion, pretreatment with sulfanilamide), in healthy, intact rabbits, as do procedures retarding rate of elicitation of shock-effect (pretreatment with linseed oil), and procedures producing increased secretion of adrenalin (exposure to cooling).Rabbits with warming-times within the shock-susceptible range of 16 to 20 are as poorly able to survive invading infection with type I pneumococcus as rabbits with warming-times indicative of impairment in capacity for the support of function. Infection, invading from a focus, may produce progressive injuries which, in shock-susceptible rabbits, may precipitate localized shock effects resulting in increase in permeability and edema and the spread of the infection from the focus to the circulating blood.Treatment designed to increase capacity for resistance to infection through corrective measures must be guided by knowledge—both of the condition of the subject at beginning of treatment and of the degree of correction being accomplished. The type of corrective treatment indicated for low-grade capacity for resisting infection as a result of impairment in circulation is contraindicated in instances of predisposition to infection as a result of tendency toward shock.

[学科分类] 生物科学（综合）