Anaphylaxis in the Pregnant Rat

Attempts have been made to elucidate the rôle of the endocrine glands in determining the susceptibility of animals to anaphylactic shock. Kepinow and Lanzenberg1found that thyroidectomy protected the guinea pig and rabbit against anaphylactic shock by inhibiting active sensitization with antigen. This, however, could not be repeated by Applemans2nor Yun;3and Fleisher and Wilhelmj4thought the protection was much less complete than the former authors believed. Blom5demonstrated the converse, that injection of thyroid preparations to sensitized guinea-pigs during the period of sensitization or shortly before the shocking dose, markedly increased the severity of anaphylactic shock; his method of injecting the shocking dose of antigen directly into the heart is, however, open to question.Adrenalectomy was shown by Kepinow,6in guinea pigs, and Flashman,7and Wyman,8in rats, to increase the susceptibility of these animals to anaphylactic shock. Epinephrin has long been known to protect against the symptoms of anaphylaxis.9Wolfram and Zwemer10showed that cortin administered from 2 to 6 hours before a shocking dose protected a large proportion of guinea pigs against anaphylaxis; and Dragstedt, Mills and Mead11noted that cortical extract administered to dogs 48 hours to 5 minutes before diminished the severity of, but did not prevent anaphylactic shock.Administration of parathyroid extract has led to contradictory results. Levinson and Matthews12claimed that amounts sufficient to raise the blood calcium of dogs to 15 mg % was without influence on the frequency of anaphylactic shock. Hajós,13on the other hand, found that the injection of parathyroid extract (Collip) decreased the sensitivity of guinea pigs to anaphylaxis.Hajós also reported that, while anterior pituitary extracts were without influence on anaphylaxis in the guinea pig, posterior lobe extract caused a decrease in sensitivity.