¹ From the Department of Immunology, Laboratories of Immunology and Filterable Viruses, School of Hygiene and Public Health, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore

The immunization of rabbits for periods of 6 to 8 weeks with sedimented, heat-killed vaccines of Pasteurella boviseptica grown in infusion broths made from six different tissues of the dog and seven tissues of man, caused the production of sera containing antibodies for the broths as well as for the bacteria. The broth made from human fibromyoma of the uterus was the least antigenic of all, as indicated by passive anaphylactic tests in guinea pigs. When these animals were prepared by intraabdominal injection with the rabbit antisera and tested 48 hours later by intravenous injection with autoclaved aqueous extracts of a large number of organs of the dog and man, the guinea pigs were found to be passively sensitized so that severe or fatal anaphylaxis was generally obtained with broths made from the homologous organ and in some instances with those prepared from heterologous organs of the same species. In most instances, the injection of broths from heterologous tissues did not desensitize to later injections of that from the homologous tissue. The most organ-specific antisera were those for striated muscle, small intestine (ileum), kidney, placenta, and fibromyoma, and the least so those for whole blood, liver, and lung. The cross-reactions of the antiserum for blood were mostly with extracts of tissues which normally contain large amounts of blood. The presence of Forssman antigen in the tissues of the dog did not interfere with the demonstration of organ specificity by the methods used. In general, the results indicate that the various tissues of man and the dog contain thermostable, water-soluble, organ-specific substances which can be demonstrated by passive anaphylaxis in guinea pigs. The chemical nature of these substances has not been definitely determined, although there are some indications that they are protein split-products, probably proteoses.

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