STUDIES ON THE SENSITIZATION OF ANIMALS WITH SIMPLE CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS

Abstract

Evidence is presented to show that guinea pigs actively sensitized to simple chemical compounds form serum antibodies capable of sensitizing the skin of normal guinea pigs. Skin sites prepared as for the Prausnitz-Küstner test develop immediate-type ("evanescent") reactions with erythema and edema, upon subsequent injection of the corresponding simple compounds or protein conjugates thereof, and give effects resembling transferred reaginic reactions as seen in human beings. The antibodies were obtainable after sensitization by acyl chlorides, acid anhydrides, and also substances of lesser reactivity, picryl chloride and 2:4 dinitrochlorobenzene, which are human allergens. Observations are reported on the specificity of the antibodies and on various details of the reaction. Like effects result when antiprotein immune sera and their corresponding antigens are employed for the test, making it highly probable that the antibodies secured after sensitization to drugs result from immunization by conjugates formed in vivo. The sera obtained after sensitization with simple chemical compounds readily confer passive anaphylaxis, and their capacity for sensitizing the skin declines gradually with progressive heating. It was observed that following a reaction of substantial degree in guinea pig skin the area involved does not fully recover for some days its capacity to react, the effect being a manifestation, it would seem, of what has been termed "non-specific antianaphylaxis."