1. Homologous vaccine was injected into abdominal organs of rabbits after different intervals following sensitization by a single or by repeated intracutaneous injections of heat-killed pneumococci Type I or of formalin-killed hemolytic streptococci (Strain AB13).
2. Local inflammation with or without necrosis was observed in the liver and in the spleen of most of the rabbits. Injections into the kidney and into the anterior wall of the stomach usually caused hemorrhagic lesions at the site of injections, frequently accompanied by slight or moderate inflammation and seldom by necrosis.
3. No correlation was found between the skin and the organ reactions of the animals sensitized with killed streptococci or with killed pneumococci. There was also no correlation between skin or organ reactions and antibody titre of serum.
4. Allergic reactions occur in those organs, namely, liver and spleen, in which antibodies are demonstrable in a high titre, and they are usually absent in kidney and stomach wall in which the antibody titre is low or negative. It is probable that the reactions are caused by the union of antigen and its specific antibody in the tissue.
1. The antibody response of rabbits following intracutaneous injections of pneumococcus or of streptococcus vaccines showed three phases.
(a) Within 5 to 12 days following a single injection of pneumococcus or of streptococcus vaccine, high antibody titres were detected in extracts from the site of the injection into the skin, the spleen, the bone marrow, and the liver. Occasionally, antibodies were also found in the draining lymph nodes. During this first phase, the titre of the circulating antibodies was low or negative. (b) During the next phase, when the interval between antigen injection and antibody titrations was prolonged from 2 to 4 weeks, the titres of the blood and of the organs showed only slight differences. High titres were observed during this period in extracts from the injected parts of the skin. (c) After a still longer interval during a third phase of antibody response, the serum titre decreased more rapidly than the titre of the extracts from spleen, bone marrow, and injected skin.
2. Similar results were obtained in rabbits following repeated intracutaneous injections of the vaccines. In these rabbits, however, antibodies usually were not detected during the first phase in extracts from the site of the injection into the skin. The repeated injections of the antigen had perhaps neutralized locally formed antibodies and interfered with their detection until an excess of antibodies was produced. No antibodies were found in the lymph nodes of the rabbits that had received repeated injections of vaccines.
3. The antibody titre of the kidney, anterior wall of the stomach, and non-injected parts of the skin was negative or very low.
4. The demonstration of antibodies in extracts from the site of the injection of antigen into the skin and their presence in lymph nodes before they are demonstrable in the blood shows that they are formed at the local site of inflammation. At the same time antibodies are formed in organs that fix antigen, namely in spleen, liver, and bone marrow.
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