Harold Baer

A comparative study of the allergens of cat urine, serum, saliva, and pelt

In direct RAST analyses of sera from 43 individuals with a history of cat allergy, 39.5% were positive to cat pelt, 37.5% to cat saliva, and 12% each to cat urine and serum. The cat pelt and saliva extracts contained allergen 1, but cat serum and cat urine collected by bladder puncture had no detectable levels of this allergen. A crossed immunoelectrophoresis/crossed radioimmunoelectrophoresis analysis failed to reveal any allergen in urine or serum that was not also present in the saliva or pelt preparations, although urine had two allergens not present in serum. When serum from a patient who was direct RAST positive to cat pelt, serum, saliva, and urine was tested by crossed radioimmunoelectrophoresis, it was determined that a total of six allergens were detectable in cat pelt, three in cat urine, and six in cat serum. Since cat serum contains no detectable cat allergen 1, it may be concluded that at least seven allergens derived from the cat are capable of binding to IgE antibody in humans.

Comparison of the contact allergenicity of the four pentadecylcatechols derived from poison ivy urushiol in human subjects

Abstract Urushiol, the component of poison ivy sap which induces contact dermatitis, has been fractionated into its four constituent catechols. These catechols differ in degree of unsaturation of the pentadecyl side chain, ranging from the fully saturated pentadecylcatechol (PDC) to the tri-olefin derivative. Twenty six volunteers with histories of Rhus dermatitis were studied. Serial dilutions containing 10 −2 , 10 −3 , and 10 −4 μM of PDC, mono-, di-, and tri-olefin were applied to the skin of the back, and responses were recorded on Days 2, 3, 4, and 7. Reactivity was recorded as the highest dilution causing a popular to vesicular lesions on Day 7. Cutaneous reactivity was greatest to the di- and tri-olefins, followed in decreasing order by mono-olefin and PDC. When volunteers were grouped according to whether their last episode of Rhus dermatitis was either 5 or fewer years ago or 6 or more years ago, more reactivity to each test catechol was demonstrated the former group. When volunteers were grouped according to age, 20 to 39 and 40 to 59 years, greater reactivity occurred in the older group. This greater reactivity was most likely related to more recent exposure to the antigen —7.3 versus 3.0 years, respectively.

The role of specific IgE and beta-propiolactone in reactions resulting from booster doses of human diploid cell rabies vaccine

Reactions after booster injections of human diploid cell rabies vaccine (HDCV) were investigated to determine the possibility of IgE-type antibody involvement. Although normal manufacture of HDCV involves the inactivation of the virus with beta-propiolactone (BPL), the effect of BPL on nonviral vaccine components, such as host cell components or stabilizing proteins, may be typical of the haptenic action of small molecular weight chemicals. Specific IgE to commercial HDCV preparations, BPL-treated preparations of noninfected host MRC5 cell sonicate (BPL-MRC5), and a human albumin (HA) (BPL-HA) used as a stabilizing agent were detected in sera from five individuals who reported reactions after booster doses of HDCV. However, these patients had no detectable IgE to normal HA. Sera from nonvaccinated individuals, vaccinated individuals who reported no reaction after HDCV booster, and pollen-allergic individuals had no detectable IgE to HDCV, BPL-MRC5, or BPL-HA. Changes in the ratios of pre- to postbooster serum levels of specific IgE to HDCV and BPL-HA were significantly different in a group of 19 individuals who reported reactions to HDCV boosters; these changes in pre- to postbooster IgE levels in nonreactive vaccinees were not significant. Prebooster serum IgE RAST ratios to HDCV or BPL-HA were not predictive of potential reactions to HDCV. A number of experimental BPL-HA reaction mixtures were assayed to examine the effect of variable concentrations of BPL to HA. Increasing relative molar concentrations of BPL to HA resulted in increased electrophoretic mobility, whereas the highest relative specific IgE binding was detected in BPL-HA molar reaction mixtures of approximately 12.5:1.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Range of Antibiotic Activity of Protoanemonin.

Summary 1. Protoanemonin inhibited the growth of all the aerobic and anaerobic bacteria, the fungi and the protozoa tested. 2. The maximum dilution of protoanemonin which was effective against the bacteria and fungi varied from 1-6000 to 1-300,000. 3. The anti-bacterial activity of protoanemonin was independent of the acidity of the medium, the size of the inoculum and the age of the culture, within the limits tested. 4. The two protozoa were prevented from qrowing in dilutions of protoanemonin ranging from 1-200.000 to 1-1,600,000. 5. No inhibition by protoanemonin of the growth of the two bacteriophages and the influenza virus was demonstrable by the techniques employed. 6. A dilution of 1-1.000,000 protoanemonin was toxic for chicken tissue culture epithelial and fibroblastic cells.

Neutrophils and mast cells: Characterization of cells responsive to neutrophil-derived histamine-releasing activity (HRA-N)

Supernatants from human neutrophils (polymorphonuclear leukocytes) contain a factor capable of causing temperature and calcium-dependent histamine release from rat basophil leukemia (RBL) cells, termed neutrophil-derived, histamine-releasing activity (HRA-N). HRA-N caused dose-related histamine release from human basophils (5% to 22% net) and from isolated human cutaneous mast cells (3% to 28% net). Equivalent amounts of histamine were released from human basophils, RBL cells, and cultured mouse P cells exposed to HRA-N (16.3 +/- 3.4%, 12.2 +/- 1.2%, and 15.5 +/- 2.5%, respectively; p was not significant). Intradermal injections of HRA-N also caused chlorpheniramine-inhibitable blueing in vivo in rat and guinea pig skin. In general, supernatants that were active on RBL cells also induced histamine release from human basophils, although the magnitude of response to individual HRA-N preparation varied among basophil donors. HRA-N is stable to boiling and filters at a molecular weight greater than 1000 daltons. Boiling enhances HRA-N, suggesting the presence of a heat-labile inhibitor of HRA-N. These data suggest that HRA-N is a heat-stable factor that causes histamine release from human basophils and human cutaneous mast cells, that HRA-N is active across species lines both in vivo and in vitro, and that HRA-N acts maximally to induce histamine release under physiologic conditions.

The isolation of isoquercitrin from giant ragweed pollen; The electrophoretic pattern and biologic activity of the pigment

Abstract In the preceding experiments isoquercitrin, a tetrahydroxy-flavone glucoside, has been isolated from giant ragweed pollen and found to be a constituent of the most rapidly moving pigment in the electrophoretic pattern of the pollen. The crystalline pigment isolated from the ragweed extracts was inactive biologically on cutaneous testing, a result anticipated because this pigment is so widely distributed in various plants that a specific role in the activity of the pollen could not be expected. But the freshly isolated pigment in amorphous form, before drastic procedures were undertaken to cause its crystallization, contained nitrogenous material with specific biologic action in the skin of ragweed-sensitive patients. When the nitrogen content of the amorphous pigment was reduced fourfold positive cutaneous tests were no longer obtained, presumably indicating that the activity was inherent in the nitrogenous fraction or fractions associated with the pigment. The nature of this association, whether a chemical combination or merely a chemical contamination, is not clear, but numerous unpublished experiments suggest that the active nitrogenous fraction is combined with the pigment. Since the mobilities of the isolated isoquercitrin and the pigment in the whole ragweed solution are identical such a combination would necessarily be through linkage with the glucose of the glucoside.

Chapter 9.16 Allergens

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses allergenic extracts used to diagnose and treat allergies in man, and consist of water- or buffer-soluble proteins derived from plants, animals, insects, fungi, and foods. These proteins induce allergic response within minutes of exposure, and are found on the surface, or readily extractable, or secreted from the source material. Common allergens include pollen grains, dusts from animal skin surfaces, animal bedding materials, animal saliva and urine, and venoms of stinging insects, such as bees. The procedures found to be useful are polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE), PAGE with the addition of sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS-PAGE), isoelectric focusing (IEF), crossed immunoelectrophoresis (CIE), crossed radioimmunoelectrophoresis (CRIE), and to a limited extent, agar, or agarose gel immunoelectrophoresis. Immunoelectrophoresis is not a widely used technique and has limited sensitivity, but is used to examine the antigens produced by Aspergillus under different growth conditions.