HEMOLYSIS BY VENOMS 223 



it, they cause injury by coniljinin^ witli or dissolvinji; the lijjoids of 

 the stroma of the corpuscles. Extracts of Morchella esculenta do not 

 hemolyze corpuscles in vitro, although powerfully heiiioh'tic when 

 injected into animals, and causing severe hemoglobinuria; so that 

 it is probable that they cause their hemolj'tic effects indirectly through 

 the changes which they produce in the tissues of the poisoned animal.'-^ 



Hemolysis by Venoms'^ 



The laking of blood-corpuscles by venoms is of peculiar interest 

 from the standpoint of immunity phenomena, since it was demon- 

 strated by Flexner and Noguchi that the hemolytic principle of the 

 venoms resembles an amboceptor, in that some substance behaving 

 like complement has to be furnished by the blood. Kyes found 

 that this complementing agent is lecithin,^" and was able to produce 

 what he considers to be compounds of the hemolysin with lecithin, 

 called "lecithids." The hemolytic activity of these lecithids is very 

 great, and they seem to be free from the neurotoxic principle of the 

 venoms. Whether they represent true compounds of a hemoh'tic 

 amboceptor with lecithin, or are simply actively hemolytic products 

 of the cleavage of lecithin by an enzymatic activity of the venom, is 

 at present unsettled ;^^ it seems probable, however, that the hemolysin 

 of cobra venom is a lipase that splits lecithin into two hemoh'tic 

 components, oleic acid and " desoleolecithin " (Coca).'^ Noguchi 

 suggests that not only lecithin, but also soaps, especially of unsaturated 

 fatty acids, and probably protein compounds of soaps and lecithin, 

 may act as the hemolytic "complement" which activates venoms. 

 The hemolytic agents of venom seem to be secreted by the salivarj- 

 glands of the reptiles from their blood, which contains almost identical 

 amboceptors, differing chiefly in that they can be activated onl}' by 

 agents contained in snake blood, while the amboceptors of venom can 

 be activated b}- nearlj' all sorts of blood. Venoms from cobra, rattle- 

 snake, moccasin, and copperhead possess in each a varietj' of inter- 

 mediary bodies (amboceptors) that seem to be at least partly identical 

 in nature, although they may varj^ in quantity. In order of decreasing 

 hemolytic power for mammalian corpuscles come venoms from cobra, 

 water moccasin, copperhead, and rattlesnake. These venoms are 

 also agglutinative for all corpuscles tried, and agglutination will 

 occur at 0° C. Exposure for thirty minutes at 75°-80° C. destroys 

 the agglutinating property. In general, the hemolytic power of the 



1' Friedberger and Brossa, Zeit. Immunitat., 1912 (15), 506. 



'^ General review of literature on the hemolytic properties of animal poisons 

 given bv Sachs, Biochem. Centralblatt. 1906 (5), 257; Noguchi, Jour. Exp. IMed., 

 1907 (9), 436. 



15 Cruickshank also found that other lipoids than lecithin may activate cobra 

 venom (Jour. Path, and Bact., 1913 (17), 619). 



16 See Kyes, Jour. Infect. Dis., 1910 (7), 181; v. Dungern and Coca, ibid., 1912 

 (10), 57; Manwaring, Zeit. Immunitat, 1910 (6), 513; Bang, iUd., 1910 (8), 202; 

 Coca, Jour. Infect. Dis., 1915 (17), 351. 



