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SummaryAbsorption spectra of ragweed pollen extracts prepared by a new electro-phoretic preparative method and by extracting the pollen with methanol are reported. Two main absorption bands were observed for crude aqueous extracts at about 2600 A and 3600 A. The 2600 and 3600 A bands may be correlated with an impurity. The main components separated electrophoretically by the preparative method still showed a marked absorption band at 2600 A, but none at 3600 A. Ninety percent methanol leached, lyophilized ragweed pollen extracts (MLL) show a marked depression of the 2600 A and the 3600 A bands. Biological activity of the essentially pigment-free preparation is identical with the preparation containing all of the pigment thus confirming our previous point of view that the pigments do not contribute substantially to the biological activity. Electrophoretic analysis reveals that a new substantially colorless major component is formed, on removal of the pigment, with an electric mobility of approximately 0.3 ...

In 1938 experiments were undertaken, using a conventional moving boundary technique, to separate the fractions and to determine the electrical charge of the constituents of giant ragweed pollen extracts. At that time it was observed that the pigments in dialyzed ragweed extracts at pH 7.0 were negatively charged. The results during that summer and the succeeding winter, however, were contradictory, because the relation of the pigments to the biologically active constituents was uncertain.Using the Tiselius1 cell for the study of the moving boundaries of protein solutions and the Philpot-Svensson2 technic to analyze the quantity and nature of the constituents, further progress may now be reported. Figures la and 1 b are illustrations of the type of curves given by the major constituent. This major constituent is negatively charged, slow moving, unpigmented, and highly skin reactive in persons sensitive to ragweed. A minor constituent, about 1/5 that of the unpigmented major constituent, appearing in the pi...

Summary The effect of pH on the transport of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD 25) and of methysergide has been studied in both Siamese fighting fish and goldfish. Two methods have been employed to study the transport of these drugs. In one method, the fish were immersed in a solution of the drug, thus providing an essentially unlimited supply of the drug in the outside liquid during the course of the experiment. In the second method, the fish were dipped for a much shorter period and then observed after the excess drug had been washed off. If has been found that the pH of the outside liquid, in both methods, is a major factor controlling the transport of LSD 25 and methysergide across the gills. Between pH 5.0 and pH 5.7, the surfacing reaction of the fish is diminished, with maximum blocking occurring at pH 5.0, the blocking effect diminishing to zero at pH 5.8. The data are discussed in connection with the permeability of the blood brain barrier of the nervous system to psychotomimetic drugs.

SummaryUltracentrifugal and diffusion studies of the major colorless components of both giant and dwarf ragweed extracts indicate that these major components are of fairly low molecular weight and do not have the ordinary chemical reactions of proteins. The low molecular weight which fits in with the high biological activity is in accord with the ability of these molecules to enter the mucous membranes, produce hay fever, and be transported into the skin by electrophoresis.

A simplified method of studying the surfacing reaction of goldfish to hallucinogens is described. Goldfish weighing up to three grams are injected intracranially. Employing this method, d-lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD-25), d-2-acetyl lysergic acid diethylamide (ALD-52), 1-methyl d-lysergic acid butano-lamide (UML-491), and 5-methoxy dimethyl tryptamine (5-MEO-DMT) were found to be as pharmacologically active as previously noted in fish and in man. The relationship of these drugs to their anti-serotonin activity is of particular interest to the allergist because of the way in which the congeners and derivatives of LSD block the action of serotonin on smooth muscle.

Serotonin, when injected intracranially and intraabdominally into goldfish produces the surfacing reaction typical of hallucinogenic compounds active in man. It is suggested that serotonin disorders in the brain in man might be connected with the schizophrenias.