THERAPEUTIC EXPERIMENTS WITH ROSENOW'S ANTIPOLIOMYELITIC SERUM

Abstract

Two series of experiments are described in which Rosenow's anti-poliomyelitic serum, so called, has been compared with the immune serum derived from monkeys which have convalesced or recovered from experimental poliomyelitis. The experiments consisted in introducing an active virus of polio-myelitis into the blood and of injecting the two kinds of serum into the cerebrospinal meninges according to the method of Flexner and Amoss. Under the conditions of the experiment, the control monkeys (a) receiving the virus intravenously alone do not develop paralysis, while those (b) receiving the virus intravenously and normal horse serum intraspinally develop paralysis. Moreover, the monkeys (c) receiving the virus intravenously and Rosenow's antipoliomyelitic serum intraspinally develop paralysis in the manner of those receiving normal horse serum intraspinally. The monkeys (d) which received the virus intravenously and the convalescent or immune monkey serum intraspinally alone did not develop paralysis. The Rosenow serum acts in the manner of normal horse serum; it promotes the passage of the virus of poliomyelitis from the blood into the nervous organs, and it does not protect from infection. We have found no evidence that Rosenow's serum under the conditions of the tests is effective therapeutically in monkeys or possesses antibodies of the same nature as those present in the blood of monkeys which have recovered from experimental poliomyelitis. Since the antibodies in convalescent poliomyelitic serum in man and the monkey are identical, it follows that any antibodies present in the Rosenow horse serum do not conform to those occurring in human convalescent serum.