104 IMMUNOLOGY 



111 view of the recent developments in the field of endocrinology 

 and especially the work of Britton and Silvette, Swingle, Hartman 

 and others on the function of the suprarenal cortex, one is en- 

 couraged to hope that correlative studies may result in an enhance- 

 ment of our immunological and pathological concepts. 



This possibility is suggested by the work of Lewis (1928), Jaffe 

 and Marine (1924), Jaffc* (1926), Scott (1924) and Belding and 

 Wyman (1926). Lewis reports that a dose of 200 M.L.D. of diph- 

 tlieria toxin for a guinea pig lias no effect upon normal rats but is 

 lethal for suprarenalectoiiiized rats. Jaffe calls attention to the 

 conclusions of Stewart and Rogoff (1922), Rogoff and DeNeeker 

 (1926) and RogofP and Ecker (1926) that suprarenalectomized 

 rats do not show increased susceptibility to toxins if tested after 

 having fully recovered. Jaffe's conclusions are summarized as 

 follows : ' ' ( 1 ) Recently suprarenalectomized rats, fully recov- 

 ered from immediate operative effects are highly susceptible to 

 small doses of typhoid vaccine ; (2) that as late as five months after 

 operation suprarenalectomized rats having no gross suprarenal 

 accessory tissue are still susceptible to vaccine; (3) that supra- 

 renalectomized animals when compensated as regards resistance, 

 invariably possess gross cortical accessory tissue; (4) that in the 

 absence of gross accessories, autoplastic suprarenal transplants 

 will protect suprarenalectomized rats against typhoid vaccine." 

 He also states that "suprarenalectomized rats show a lowered re- 

 sistance to natural infections." 



Belding and Wyman (1926) confirmed and extended the work 

 of Lewis. They report that suprarenalectomized rats are 2.5 times 

 as susceptible to diphtheria toxin as normal rats. They conclude 

 that suprarenal deficiency apparently renders less effective the 

 normal mechanism of tlic rat for tlie elimination or destruction of 

 diphtheria toxin. 



Jungeblut, Meyer and Engle (1984) report that poliomyelitis 

 virus is inactivated in vitro by biological products containing 

 anterior pituitary-like principles and by cortical and medullary 

 adrenal cortex hormone and that pregnancy urine preparation and 

 adrenal cortex hormone exert the same effect on diphtheria toxin. 



It would seem that these findings warrant further investigation 

 since Molomutt (1939) cites considerable evidence indicating that 



*JafE6, H. L. : Am. J. Path. 3: 421, 1926. 

 tMolomut: J. Immunol. 37: 113, 1939. 



