Studies in Experimental Hypersensitiveness in the Rhesus Monkey

Abstract

Abstract In recent studies by Walzer, Sherman, Feldman, and Kaplan (1, 2) it was demonstrated that the mucous membranes of the eyes and of the nose in humans could be passively sensitized at will with sera containing atopic reagins. Gray and Walzer (3) have shown that the mucous membranes of the rectum in man are also subject to passive local sensitization with such sera. Similar studies in human beings on the mucous membranes of organs in the thorax and abdomen were naturally limited because of the inaccessibility of such tissues. Recently, Straus (4) demonstrated conclusively that the skin of the Macacus rhesus monkey could be passively sensitized with human atopic antibodies. This finding suggested the use of the rhesus monkey for studying passive sensitization of those organs which could not be experimentally explored in human subjects. The present communication is a brief preliminary report of the results of such experiments in passive sensitization performed on some of the abdominal organs in the rhesus monkey.