994 TECHNIQUE OF EXPERIMENTATION IN ANAPHYLAXIS 



plus 1-2 per cent carefully filtered defibrinated blood, may be used as the perfusion 

 fluid. Numerous anaphylactic effects have been reported with this technicjue.' 



Drinker and Bronfenbrenner have recently applied Starling's isolated heart-lungs 

 preparation to anaphylactic study .^ In this preparation the systemic circulation is 

 replaced by an outside circulatory resistance connecting the aorta and superior vena 

 cava, the lungs being under artificial respiration. Defibrinated blood is used as the 

 circulating fluid. 



ARTERIAL BLOOD PRESSURE 



Changes in blood pressure in the systemic arteries during acute anaphylaxis are 

 readily followed by ordinary kymograph methods. In guinea pigs, for example, there 

 is usually a slight initial rise in the systemic blood pressure, followed by a gradual 

 fall until the death of the animal. ^ In rabbits,'' an initial rise may or may not take 

 place, the typical reaction being a gradual reduction in arterial blood pressure begin- 

 ning about three minutes after the protein injection and continuing until the death 

 of the animal. In dogs,s there is invariably a precipitous fall in the arterial blood 

 pressure. In severe shock the pressure is reduced to about 35-mm. Hg. by the end 

 of ninety seconds, with a further gradual decrease to about 25-mm. Hg. by the end 

 of twelve minutes. In non-lethal reactions recovery usually sets in about the fifteenth 

 minute, the blood pressure being restored to normal in from one to two hours. In 

 cats,*" there is often a sharp initial fall in arterial blood pressure, with full recovery 

 in from one to three minutes, due to the normal toxicity of the foreign protein. Re- 

 covery is followed by the typical anaphylactic fall in arterial pressure, the minimum 

 being reached in from twenty to forty minutes. In non-lethal shock, recovery is 

 usually complete in from one to two hours. 



A simple method of measuring the blood pressure in the pulmonary artery has 

 been devised by Drinker. ^ In this method, the heart is exposed by means of a small 

 window cut in the anterior chest wall. The window is closed by sewing its edges to 

 the opened pericardial sac. The pulmonary blood pressure is recorded by means of a 

 special trocar cannula, inserted into one side of the pulmonary artery. In rabbits 

 and cats. Drinker and Bronfenbrenner^ recorded an abrupt rise in the pulmonary 

 blood pressure during the first two minutes of anaphylactic shock. In dogs, this in- 

 crease did not take place. 



' Cesaris-Demel, A.: Gior. Acad, vied., Torino, 73, 69. 1910; Manwaring, W.H., Meinhard, A. R., 

 and Denhart, H. L.: Proc. Soc. Exper. Biol, b" Med., 13, 174. 1916; Leyton, A. S. and H. G., and 

 Sowton, S. C. M.: /. Physiol., 50, 265. 1916. 



2 Drinker, C. K., and Bronfenbrenner, J.: loc. cil.; Starling, E. H.: Principles of Human Physi- 

 ology {2d ed.), p. gii. 1915. 



3 Auer, J., and Lewis, P. A.: J. Exper. Med., 12, 151. 1910. 



■* Arthus, M.: Arch, inlernat. de physiol., 7, 471. 1908; Loewit, M.: Arch. f. exper. Path. u. 

 Pharmakol., 68, 83. 191 2; Biedl, A., and Kraus, R.: Wien. klin. Wchnschr., 22, 363. 1909. 



s Biedl, A., and Kraus, R.: loc. cit.; Manwaring, W. H.: loc. cit. 



^ Manwaring, W. H.: loc. oil.; Schultz, W. H.: loc. cit.; Drinker, C. K., and Bronfenbrenner, J.: 

 loc. cit. 

 ^ 7 Swift, W. E., Haggart, G. E., and Drinker, C. K.: /. Exper. Med., 36, 329. 1922. 



8 Drinker, C. K., and Bronfenbrenner, J.: loc cit. 



