ANAPHYLAXIS-LIKE REACTIONS PRODUCED BY ASCARIS EXTRACTS

Abstract

IN the two preceding papers¹of this series we have described the main features of the shock produced in the dog by the intravenous injection of deproteinized and dialyzed extracts from Ascaris lumbricoides. We have shown that histamine and heparin are discharged in conspicuous amounts from liver cells when the extracts are injected into the intact animal and that glycogen inhibits this release when injected before the extracts. This effect of liver glycogen was ascribed to its capacity for reducing the number of leukocytes and platelets of circulating blood by allocating them to nonspecified organ structures all over the body. On the contrary, in anaphylactic shock or in the shock produced by Ascaris extracts it should be a preferential allocation of clumped leukocytes and platelets to the structure of the shock organs. As regards the rabbit, pulmonary capillaries have been shown by Dragstedt and co-workers²to retain leukocytes