CHAPTER XXI 

 VENOM HEMOLYSIS 



Nature of Venom Hemolysis. In a previous chapter the statement 

 was made that certain snake poisons, and especially cobra venom, are 

 actively hemolytic. Flexner and Noguchi x first demonstrated that the 

 blood-corpuscles of certain species of animals undergo hemolysis when 

 a suitable serum is present, and believed that the venom contained an 

 amboceptor that was active with serum complement. 



Shortly afterward Kyes 2 discovered that venom may hemolyze the 

 corpuscles of certain animals without the presence of serum, and be- 

 lieved that the complement-like activator was contained within the cor- 

 puscles, to which he accordingly applied the name endocomplement. 



Later Kyes 2 confirmed Calmette's observation that practically any 

 serum, when heated to 65 C. and higher, showed an increased activity 

 in the process of venom hemolysis. Kyes and Sachs 3 then concluded that 

 endocomplement was not of the nature of a thermolabile complement, 

 but was, rather, a combination of lecithin and the stromata of erythro- 

 cytes. 



Kyes later succeeded in combining cobra venom and lecithin by shak- 

 ing a watery solution of venom with a solution of lecithin in ether, form- 

 ing cobra-lecithid, which was found to be actively hemolytic. 



The erythrocytes of various animals differ in their susceptibility to 

 venom hemolysis. For instance, those of the dog and guinea-pig are 

 most susceptible to the process; those of the ox, goat and sheep are en- 

 tirely refractory, whereas those of the horse, rabbit, rat, pig, and man 

 occupy an intermediate position. Sacks suggested that the variation 

 in hemolytic resistance of red blood-cells from these species of animals 

 was dependent on the amount of lecithin contained in the cells. Kyes, 

 on the other hand, believes that since all erythrocytes contain sufficient 

 lecithin to activate cobra venom, the varying susceptibility depends 

 rather on the availability of the intracellular lecithin for the reaction, 

 i. e., whether the lecithin in the cell is available in a free state. 



1 Jour. Exper. Med., 1902, vi, 277. 



2 Berl. klin. Wochenschr., 1902, xxxix, 886; ibid., 1903, xlii, 21; ibid., 1903; xlii, 

 956; Biochem. Zeitschr., 1907, iv, 109; Jour. Infect. Dis., 1910, vii, 181. 



3 Berl. klin. Wochenschr., 1903, xliii, 21, 57, 82. 



405 



