DIFFERENTIATION BETWEEN SOME TOXIC SUBSTANCES IN ANAEROBICALLY PRODUCED AUTOLYSATES OF PNEUMOCOCCI (TYPES I AND II)

Abstract

The necrotizing and lung-toxic principles present in certain anaerobically prepared autolysates of Pneumococcus Types I and II are similar in respect to extreme sensitiveness to heat and to oxidation, and to their ability to be neutralized by the same anti-autolysate serums. These two poisons differ, however, in their ability to be adsorbed or inactivated by red cells; the lung-toxic principle being adsorbed or inactivated by such procedure while the necrotizing principle is not. Since pneumococcus hemotoxin is present in the anaerobic autolysates and is also adsorbed by red cells, it seemed possible that it was this substance in the autolysates which caused the diffuse lung lesions and death of guinea pigs. However, it was found that the intratracheal injection of pneumococcus hemotoxin prepared by the method of Avery and Neill only occasionally produced the characteristic reaction caused by the intratracheal injection of the anaerobic autolysates.