Differential Action of Ammonium Chloride on the Response of the Sensitized Gut to Ovalbumin, Serotonin, and Histamine

Abstract

Abstract The presence of physiologically active principles in perfusates of chemically irritated lungs has been described by Steiner (1) and Bartosch (2). Garan (3) insufflated various hydrocarbons and ammonia into the isolated lungs of guinea pigs and found that the output of physiologically active materials, as assayed on the guinea pig gut, was greatest after treatment with ammonia. He inferred that the perfusate contained histamine on the basis that it caused the atropinized gut to contract, and showed the activity of the extract to be reduced after incubating it for 24 hr with the histaminase preparation, Torantil. Subsequent work of Schild (4) showed that the amount of active material produced from the rat's diaphragm by treatment with ammonium chloride varied with the pH of the medium and therefore that the magnitude of the release was dependent upon the fraction of undissociated ammonia present.