CYTOLYSIS 233 



agents."^ Accordinp; to von Dungorn'^ the heat coagulaiion of syphilitic serum is 

 prevented by a smaller relative (juantity of an alkaline solution of indigo than is the 

 case with normal serum, a statement disputed by Flood anrl Fiijimoto." Syphil- 

 itic serum also flocculates on addition of appro])riate colloidal suspensions which 

 will not coagulate normal serum (Vernes)."* Landau"' states that syphilitic seruni 

 has a heightened power to decolorize and clear up an iodin precipitate jjrodueed in 

 the serum.*" 



Among other reactions observed are the following : 



Klausner's Serum Reaction. — When distilled water is added in certain propor- 

 tions to fresh serum, a distinct flocculent precipitate separates out in a few hours, 

 and this property is much more marked in syphilitic than in normal sera. While 

 not specific for syphilis, this reaction is almost invariably present in certain stages 

 of syphilis. This property is not due to the excess of globulin present in syphilitic 

 sera, according to the later studies of Klausner,*' ^vho believes that the high lipoid 

 content of syphilitic serum is responsible. 



Porges -Hermann -Perutz Reaction. — If equal parts of a 2% solution of sodium 

 gh'cocholate and an alcoholic cholesterol suspension (0.4%) are added to inac- 

 tivated serum from syphilitic patients, a precipitate forms, while with normal 

 serum there occurs no precipitate.*- Little is known concerning the nature of this 

 reaction. 



Coagulation Reaction. — This was described by Hirschfeld and Klinger,*^ 

 and depends on the fact that tissue extracts digested with syphilitic serum lose their 

 ability to coagulate blood. The effect is believed to depend on adsorption of the 

 lipoids of the tissue extract by serum constituents, and hence is fundamentally 

 similar to the Wassermann reaction. 



CYTOLYSIS IN GENERAL** 



Not the same degree of success has been obtained in immunizing 

 against other tissue elements as with the erythrocytes. Immune 

 serum can readily be obtained against cells that can be secured quite 

 free from other cells, such as spermatozoa, ciliated epithelium, and 

 leucocytes, but even then the immunity is not specific. Much less is 

 it specific when ground-up organs are used for immunizing, as is the 

 case in the experimental production of nephrolysins, hepatolysins, 

 etc., for at the same time antibodies are secured for not only the 

 typical parenchyma cells, but also for endothelium, stroma cells, red 

 and white corpuscles, and blood plasma. As a consequence, the early 

 expectations that by this process of immunization against specific cells 

 great progress could be made in our knowledge of physiology, by 



'« See Heller, Biochem. Zeit., 1918 (90), 166; McDonagh., Proc. Royal Soc. 

 Med., 1916 (9), 191, (Derm. Sect). 



"' Mtinch. med. Woch., 1915 (62), 1212. See also Flood, Jour. Immunol., 

 1916 (2), 69; Fujimoto, ibid., 1918 (3), 11. 



"* Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci., 1918 (167), 383. 



■s Wien. klin. Woch., 1913 (26), 1702. 



*° Not corroborated by Stillians and Kolmer, Jour. Amer. Med. Assoc, 1915 

 (64), 1459. 



«i Biochem. Zeit., 1912 (47), 36. 



«2 See Gammeltoft, Deut. med. Woch., 1912 (38), 1934; EUermann, ibid., 1913 

 (39), 219. 



*^ Deut. med. Woch., 1914 (40), 1607. See also Kolmer and Toyama, Amer. 

 Jour. Syphilis, 1918 (2), 505. 



** Literature is given by Fleischmann and Davidsohn, Folia Serologica, 1908 (1), 

 173; Landsteiner, Handbuch d. Biochem., 1909 (II (1) ), 542; Ritchie, Jour. 

 Pathol, and Bact., 1908 (12), 140. 



