560 ANAPHYLAXIS 



At this place it may be mentioned that the new-born of a sensitized 

 mother animal may be sensitive, and remain so for a longer or shorter 

 period of time. This is an illustration of passive homologous anaphy- 

 laxis, a process that has been especially studied by Rosenau and Anderson, 

 Gay and Southard, and Otto, the last observer finding that young guinea- 

 pigs remained sensitive for as long as forty-five days after birth. This 

 function of transmitting the condition of sensitization is solely maternal : 

 the male takes no part whatever in the transmission of these acquired 

 properties. 



The Production of Passive Anaphylaxis. An important phase of 

 this subject over which there has been considerable difference of opinion 

 refers to the question whether some time must elapse between the in- 

 jection of immune serum and anaphylactogen before anaphylaxis is 

 produced, or whether intoxication may follow the simultaneous injection 

 of both antibody and antigen. Thus Gay and Southard, in their early 

 studies, found their recipients first sensitized on the fourteenth day 

 after injection of immune serum. Otto and Friedmann observed shock 

 twenty-four hours after injecting the anaphylactic serum subcutaneously 

 and antigen intraperitoneally. By injecting both serums intravenously 

 and simultaneously, Doerr and Russ finally succeeded in producing acute 

 anaphylaxis and almost immediate death. Weil, 1 however, believes that 

 the simultaneous injection of antigen and of antiserum into opposite 

 jugular veins in the guinea-pig never produces an anaphylactic reaction, 

 in spite of the use of wide quantitative variations in both substances. 

 On the other hand, if the antigen were injected a few hours after the 

 antiserum, in the same quantitative variations, the reaction occurred 

 regularly. From this it was concluded that the body-cells anchor the 

 antibody during the latent period, and that anaphylaxis is the result 

 of an interaction between the cellular antibodies and the antigen. 



It would appear that passive anaphylaxis is not wholly determined 

 by the amounts of antigen or antibody, but by the proportion that 

 exists between the two. For example, Friedmann, 2 in his studies on 

 passive homologous anaphylaxis in rabbits, found that, by employing 

 2.5 c.c. of antiserum with from 2.5 to 0.25 c.c. of antigen, no results were 

 observed, whereas positive reactions were obtained when the amount of 

 antigen was reduced from 0.025 to 0.0025 c.c. 



Ordinarily, normal guinea-pigs may be passively sensitized by 0.1 to 

 0.5 c.c. of serum injected intraperitoneally, and anaphylactized one or 



1 Jour. Med. Research, 1914, 30, No. 2, 87. 



2 Jahr. u. d. Ergeb. d. Immunitatsf., 1910, vi, 67. 



