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Experimental Diphtheric Paralysis

From the Department of Bacteriology, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York

Abstract

1. Diphtheric paralysis in guinea pigs was produced by the intravenous injection of 0.1 to 0.4 mld of toxin alone. The ratio of the paralytic dose to the minimal lethal dose was the same with each of four toxins used, including a highly purified, a gravis, a mitis, and an intermediate toxin.

2. In vitro contact of toxin with nerve tissues caused neither a loss in lethal nor in paralytic action of the toxin.

3. The loss of ability of heat-, light-, formalin-, or H₂O₂-treated purified toxin to produce paralysis paralleled the loss of ability to produce cutaneous necrosis or death.

4. The non-toxic supernates of neutral toxin-antitoxin mixtures did not produce paralysis.

5. Tissues removed from paralyzed guinea pigs were not capable of inducing paralysis in normal guinea pigs.

6. No local peripheral nerve immunity developed as a result of one attack of paralysis. Guinea pigs once recovered succumbed to the re-injection of paralyzing doses with no difference in length of incubationary period, duration, or severity, as compared with the first attack.

7. The intraneural injection of toxin produced a mild paresis that appeared relatively soon after injection, but it did not resemble true diphtheric paralysis. There was no evidence of centripetal diffusion of toxin.

Footnotes

¹ Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, in the Faculty of Pure Science, Columbia University.