IX. HEMOLYTIC SERA AND THEIR ANTITOXINS, AND 



THEORIES CONCERNING CYTOLYTIC SERA 



IN GENERAL.* 



BY JULES BORDET. 



I. ADDITIONAL IDEAS CONCERNING HEMOLYTIC SERA. 



In the present article we propose to consider first of all certain 

 novel facts concerning antihematic sera;f these sera, as we know, 

 are obtained from animals that have been treated with the blood 

 of other species. We shall then consider the principal properties 

 of an antitoxin capable of opposing the destructive effect of a 

 hemolytic serum on red blood corpuscles. And finally, we shall 

 take up the theories that have been offered to explain the cytolytic 

 properties of various immune sera and shall consider which of these 

 theories are best corroborated by experimental facts. 



In the following pages we shall deal with a single hemolytic serum 

 and for this purpose have chosen the serum of guinea-pigs treated 

 with rabbit blood. This is the serum that we first used in describ- 

 ing antihematic sera. It is easy to obtain, as guinea-pigs furnish 

 a very active serum after receiving two or three injections subcuta- 

 neously of 3 to 5 c.c. of defibrinated rabbit blood. The serum agglu- 

 tinates and destroys rabbit blood corpuscles, but has no effect on 

 the corpuscles of other animals. 



We described the properties of this serum fully in a previous arti- 

 cle (1898) ; it seems, therefore, scarcely necessary to consider again 

 in detail the effect of the two substances present in an antihematic 



* Les scrums he"molytiques, leurs antitoxines et les theories des scrums cytoly- 

 tiques. Annales de 1'Institut Pasteur, XIV, 1900, 257. 



f We shall frequently use the expression "hemolytic sera," or, preferably, "hemo- 

 toxins" to designate antihematic sera. If the word hemotoxin is used, the anti- 

 toxin to a hemolytic serum should be called antihemotoxin. These terms are 

 convenient. They were suggested by Metchnikoff. who called a serum that was 

 active against spermatozoa a spermotoxin and one active against leucocytes a 

 leucotoxin. The expression "cytolytic" sera or "cytotoxins" may be used to 

 designate various immune sera that are able to destroy bacteria or cells like red 

 blood cells. 



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