Matthew Walzer

STUDIES IN MUCOUS MEMBRANE HYPERSENSITIVENESS. IV. THE ALLERGIC REACTION IN THE PASSIVELY SENSITIZED MUCOUS MEMBRANES OF THE ILEUM AND COLON IN HUMANS

Excerpt In a previous communication1the allergic reactions, occurring in the passively sensitized mucous membranes of the stomach, ileum and colon of the Rhesus monkey, were described. Edema, hyper...

Studies in mucous membrane hypersensitiveness: III. The allergic reaction of the passively sensitized rectal mucous membrane

1. The rectal mucous membrane can be passively and locally sensitized with human reagin-bearing sera. 2. The allergic reaction can be induced by either the oral or the rectal administration of the antigen. 3. The allergic reaction consists of edema, hyperemia, and increased mucous secretion. 4. Subjective symptoms, such as pruritis, burning, a sense of fullness, and a desire to empty the bowel, are commonly associated with the allergic reaction and vary with its location. 5. The allergic reaction in the sensitized mucous membrane of the gastro-intestinal tract may be induced by antigen which is in direct contact with it or by absorbed antigen which reaches it via the circulation or by both.

Factors influencing Reagin Formation in Experimental Human Sensitization to Ascaris lumbricoides Antigen. I. Influence of Chronic Infection (Tuberculosis) on Rate of Sensitization.

Abstract 1.1. Active sensitization to Ascaris lumbricoides antigen was experimentally induced, by repeated intracutaneous injections, in over 90 per cent of negative reactors, most of whom were not atopic. 2.2. Sensitization to Ascaris lumbricoides antigen was demonstrable in 19 per cent of 110 subjects at the time of S 3 (fourteenth day in most cases), in 54 per cent of 104 cases at S 5 , in 81 per cent of 89 patients at S 9 , and in 92 per cent of 86 cases at S 12 . 3.3. The antibody responsible for the immediate skin reaction was the atopic reagin. The presence of this antibody in the sera of sensitized subjects was demonstrated by the Prausnitz-Kustner technique. 4.4. Chronic tuberculous infection did not appear to be a factor affecting the rate of sensitization to Ascaris antigen. 5.5. Evidence was uncovered which suggested that the rate of active sensitization to Ascaris lumbricoides might be influenced by a sex factor.

Absorption of protein from the vagina and uterine cervix

Abstract 1. 1. A direct method of studying the absorption of protein from the human vagina and cervix has been presented. 2. 2. Absorption of protein from the cervix is a normal phenomenon occurring in every case studied with peanut protein within a relatively short period, i.e., from eight to twenty-five minutes. 3. 3. Absorption of protein from the vagina is inconstant. It occurred in this series in six out of seventeen cases. Absorption of peanut protein from the vagina is much slower than from the cervix, taking from forty to one hundred and twenty minutes.

Studies in Absorption of Undigested Proteins in Human Beings

Summary A technic for the demonstration of the absorption of undigested protein in human beings is presented in detail. In contradistinction to all previous immunological methods employed in human beings for the same purpose, this test is a direct one, and is performed on the subject himself. It employs the principle of passive local sensitization as its basis. By the intradermal injection of serum, taken from certain fish or egg hypersensitive cases, it is possible to passively locally sensitize an individual to these proteins. Upon the ingestion of such proteins, under proper circumstances, a wheal develops at the sensitized area, which has been proved to indicate the absorption into the circulation of these proteins in an undigested form. The individual steps in the technic and the factors affecting them have been discussed at length. The advantages and limitations of the procedure have been reviewed. The fact that the reaction occurs in most individuals when physiological amounts of fish and egg protein are taken under physiological circumstances, indicates that the absorption of these undigested proteins is a normal phenomenon.

Factors influencing reagin formation in experimental human sensitization to Ascaris lumbricoides antigen. II. The influence of sex as a factor in rate of sensitization.

Abstract 1.1. The impression gained in previous investigations that sex may be a factor in experimental active sensitization to Ascaris antigen was strengthened in this study. 2.2. Evidence was uncovered which suggested that there is a more rapid rate of experimental active sensitization with Ascaris lumbricoides in the Negro race than in the white.

Passive Local Sensitization in Atopic Individuals.

The technic for studying the absorption of unaltered proteins in humans has been described. 1 A cutaneous site is passively and locally sensitized with a small amount of serum taken from an atopic patient who is extremely sensitive to the protein to be tested. On the following day, the specific protein is fed to the subject on an empty stomach. Within a few minutes to a few hours, a wheal forms at the sensitized site demonstrating roughly the rapidity and, to a certain degree, the amount of unaltered protein absorption in that subject. The results of studies with various proteins and in different types of subjects have already been presented. 2 , 3 The technic may, however, fail completely or may show diminished reactions in atopic subjects. One of the factors which accounts for this is that atopic individuals do not accept passive local sensitization as well as normals. The evidence is submitted herewith. The ability of atopics to accept passive local sensitization was determined by titrating on their skins the sensitizing power of certain atopic sera of known strength. The titrations of these sera were performed according to the method of Coca and Grove 4 . Atopic and normal subjects were sensitized with the serum in a range of dilutions determined to be suitable for that serum by previous titration on normal subjects. Seven days after sensitization the sites were tested with a suitable dilution of the atopen for which the serum in question contained reagins. Control tests on normal skin sites were introduced at the same time. Readings were made according to the method used in the indirect method of testing 5 ; i. e., any definite excess of reaction, either in wheal or in erythema, on the sensitized site over that manifested on the control site was considered a positive transfer.

Studies in mucous membrane hypersensitiveness

1. The nasal mucous membranes of the inferior turbinate and septum were successfully sensitized by the injection of a reagin-bearing serum in 26 of 31 subjects. 2. Reactions could be elicited at the sensitized sites by intravenous, subcutaneous, and intramucosal injections, and by topical application of the antigen in that order of effectiveness. 3. Local sensitiveness lasted for several weeks and could be exhausted by repeated tests with the specific antigen.Abstract 1. The nasal mucous membranes of the inferior turbinate and septum were successfully sensitized by the injection of a reagin-bearing serum in 26 of 31 subjects. 2. Reactions could be elicited at the sensitized sites by intravenous, subcutaneous, and intramucosal injections, and by topical application of the antigen in that order of effectiveness. 3. Local sensitiveness lasted for several weeks and could be exhausted by repeated tests with the specific antigen.

Passive Transfer of Atopic Hypersensitiveness in Man by Means of Leucocytes.

Conclusions 1. The intracutaneous injection of viable leucocytes obtained from the bloods of atopic subjects who respond with immediate whealing reactions to skin tests with common allergens may specifically and locally sensitize the skin of normal recipients. 2. Red blood cells obtained from the same donors lack this skin-sensitizing property.

Factors influencing Reagin Formation in Experimental Human Sensitization to Ascaris lumbricoides Antigen. III. The Influence of Race as a Factor in Rate of Sensitization with further Observations on the Sex Factor.

Abstract 1. 1. Ascaris antigen introduced intracutaneously induced reagin formation at a significantly more rapid rate in adults of the Negro race than in white persons. 2. 2. Negro males were more readily sensitized than Negro females. The results obtained in white subjects in this study were not so conclusive as those obtained in previous studies, but still suggested a more rapid rate of sensitization for the males. 3. 3. The rates of sensitization for the four groups in this study could not be correlated with the incidence of naturally acquired positive reactions to Ascaris in the population groups from which the experimental subjects were selected. 4. 4. In the age range of 19 to 50 years, there was no correlation between age of the subject and rate of sensitization. 5. 5. An immediate positive reaction, indicative of the presence of skin-sensitizing antibodies was not demonstrable at seven days after first contact with Ascaris antigen, but was frequently noted at the end of the second week. In more than one-half of the cases tested such reagins were still demonstrable after six months.