Nov. 19, 1921 Hemotoxins from Parasitic Worms 405 



result of boiling the potency of the extracts was weakened but not 

 destroyed. 



The hemolysin goes through the pores of Berkefeld, Chamberland, 

 and diatomaceous filters. The filtrates are less potent, however, than 

 nonfiltered solutions. 



V. EXPERIMENTS WITH AGGLUTINATING SUBSTANCES FROM 

 ASCARIS LUMBRICOIDES 



In the course of experiments on hemolysis of red blood cells by ex- 

 tracts of Ascaris luvibricoides it was observed that the cells frequently 

 became agglutinated before hemolysis set in. The agglutinating effect 

 of the extracts was especially marked on rabbit red blood cells and was 

 observed only occasionally on sheep erythrocytes. Several experiments 

 on hog erythrocytes showed them to be refractory to the agglutinating 

 substance of the parasite. 



The agglutinating property of Ascaris lumhricoides with respect to 

 rabbit-blood corpuscles was present almost invariably in physiological salt- 

 solution extracts. Alcohol and ether extracts of entire worms were not 

 entirely free from agglutinating properties, however. Unlike the hemo- 

 lytic substances which are entirely removed from the worm material by 

 alcohol and ether extraction, the agglutinating substance resists ex- 

 traction in these solvents and may be recovered in the fraction of the 

 worm material from which the alcohol-soluble and ether-soluble frac- 

 tions have been removed. The salt-solution-soluble hemagglutinin does 

 not appear as firmly bound to the cells of the parasites as the lipoidal 

 hemolysin. The latter, as has already been stated elsewhere in this 

 paper, is but slightly soluble in physiological salt solution unless the 

 material is thoroughly triturated. Salt-solution extracts of coarsely 

 powdered worm material that yield but a small quantity of hemolysin 

 were found to contain a considerable quantity of agglutinating substance. 

 In physiological salt-solution extracts of Ascaris lumhricoides that con- 

 tain the hemolysin and the hemagglutinin the potency of the former may 

 be suppressed by low temperatures {6° to 10° C), whereas that of the 

 latter remains unaffected by those temperatures. 



The hemagglutinin from Ascaris lumhricoides is relatively thermo- 

 stabile and differs in this respect from the hemagglutinin which Tallqvist 

 (1907) isolated from Diphyllohothrium latum. The latter is injured by 30 

 minutes' heating at 55° C, whereas that of A. lumhricoides with- 

 stands heating at temperatures ranging from 56° to 60° for 30 minutes. 

 Hemagglutinating extract of A . lumhricoides was passed through a Cham- 

 berland filter without injuring its potency. 



Summarizing, it may be stated that in contrast to the lipoidal hemoly- 

 sin, which is inactive at 6° to 10° C. and which is but slightly soluble in 

 physiological salt solution, the agglutinin of Ascaris lumhricoides is 

 readily soluble in salt solution, slightly soluble in ether and alcohol, and 



