Shwartzman Phenomenon with B. Pertussis Culture Filtrates

Abstract

Attempts to reproduce the Shwartzman phenomenon with B. pertussis have been reported by several authors. (Gross, Shwartzman, Mishulow, Mowry and Scott.) However, the potency of the nitrates seemed to have varied for unknown reasons and always remained low as compared to similar preparations from B. typhosus, meningococcus and other organisms. During some work with serum neutralizations of B. pertussis toxic substances it occurred to the author of this paper to employ Toomey and McClelland's brain veal infusion medium for the preparation of the toxic factors necessary for the production of the Shwartzman phenomenon. In these experiments the brain medium was prepared essentially according to the method of Toomey and McClelland with various peptones (neopeptone, proteose-peptone (Difco), Witte's peptone). The H-ion concentration was adjusted either to pH 7.3 or 7.8. The media were seeded with 24-hour-old cultures on “chocolate agar” slants. The strain used was subcultured for at least 3 successive days preceding these inoculations. The organisms grew luxuriantly in the brain media similar to Toomey and McClelland's description. The strain employed was M 12 (group B), kindly supplied to us by Miss Mishulow of the New York City Board of Health Laboratories. Berkefeld filtrates of 4, 7 and 17 days' brain medium cultures were tested in rabbits for the elicitation of the Shwartzman phenomenon. 0.25 cc. undiluted filtrate was injected intradermally into rabbits and followed in 24 hours by a single intravenous injection of the same filtrate undiluted or in varying dilutions. Comparative studies of the brain culture filtrate with “chocolate agar” culture washings were made. The results may be described in brief as follows: