188 IMMUNO-CATALYSIS 



As will be discussed in detail in the latter part of this study, the toxic 

 effects of several toxins are correlated with their proteolytic or leci- 

 thinase activity. On this and on the grounds cited above, a comparison 

 of the adsorbability of toxins with that of enzymes appears to be 

 justified. 



a. Adsorption of Toxins on Red Blood Cells and Charcoal with- 

 out Loss of Activity. Sbarsky (1923), and Sbarsky and Michlin 

 (1923) stated they had found that inactivated diphtheria toxin adsorbs 

 on red blood cells in vivo and in vitro, and that there is a relationship 

 between the adsorption property of the cells and the susceptibility of 

 the animal to diphtheria. They found that diphtheria toxin is adsorbed 

 by the red blood cells of various animals in the following order of 

 adsorptive power expressed in percentages: rat, 14; rabbit, 75.8; horse, 

 88; guinea pig, 91.8; hen, 93; pigeon, 95. 



The above observation appears to have been corroborated by the 

 findings of Dujarric de La Riviere and Kossovitch (1932). They 

 stated that red blood corpuscles adsorb diphtheria toxin and that the 

 adsorbing ability of the red blood cells varies among different animals. 

 The blood plasma did not fix, or it fixed only a very small amount of 

 toxin. Levine (1939) was able to remove staphylococcal exotoxin 

 quantitatively by adsorbing on red blood cells. 



Eisler (1922) studied the reactivity of toxins and antitoxins after 

 adsorbing them on charcoal. The activity of vibrio toxin adsorbed on 

 charcoal was not altered. In this state, it was capable of combining 

 with an equivalent amount of neutralizing antitoxin. In contrast, 

 vibrio toxin adsorbed on red blood cells was incapable of combining 

 with antitoxin. Diphtheria and tetanus toxin adsorbed on charcoal 

 manifested weaker combining properties for the respective homologous 

 antitoxins. For this reason, they required greater amounts of antitoxin 

 for neutralization. Eisler correlated this behavior of tetanus or diph- 

 theria toxin adsorbed on charcoal wdth the fact that in serum treatment 

 they require a larger amount of antitoxin than the equivalent amount. 

 Despite the weakening of the combining properties of charcoal ad- 

 sorbed toxins, their injurious effect on tissue was not diminished or 

 altered. 



b. Failure of Protein-Anti-Protein Precipitates to Adsorb Toxins. 

 Maloney and Weld (1925) investigated the neutralization of toxin 

 with specific antitoxin in the presence of other bacterial impurities 



