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Studies on the Role of Serotonin and Mast Cells in Anaphylaxis of the Mouse Produced with Soluble Antigen-Antibody Complexes¹

From the Department of Microbiology, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington

Abstract

The influence of various treatments on the anaphylactic response of the Swiss-Webster mouse to challenge with a soluble antigen-antibody complex composed of bovine serum albumin-antibovine serum albumin was studied.

Protection against anaphylaxis was afforded by prechallenge treatment with either reserpine, epinephrine, norepinephrine, dopamine, histamine and sodium salicylate or with the "serotonin antagonists" lysergic acid diethylamide, its bromine analogue and chlorpromazine. The antihistamine agent, pyrilamine maleate, was without effect.

The protective effect of reserpine can be abolished with 5-hydroxytryptophan but not with 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine. Histamine or sodium salicylate did not affect the response to intravenous challenge with serotonin or histamine. Prechallenge treatment with 5-hydroxytryptamine or 5-hydroxytryptophan increased the susceptibility of the animals to anaphylaxis.

The highly sensitive pertussis-vaccinated mouse was protected against anaphylaxis by prechallenge treatment with epinephrine but not by prechallenge treatment with reserpine, the bromine analogue of lysergic acid diethylamide or dopamine.

The refractory state induced by prior sublethal doses of antigen-antibody complex was not reversed by the administration of mouse complement or 5-hydroxytryptophan or a combination of both substances.

Mice of the DBA/2 strain show only mild symptoms of anaphylaxis following doses of antigen-antibody complex three times those necessary to produce fatal anaphylaxis in a high percentage of Swiss-Webster mice.

Examination of various tissues following anaphylactic death produced with the complex gave no indication that morphologic changes in mast cells accompany anaphylaxis.

Footnotes

Supported in part by the Washington State Heart Association and in part by the State of Washington, Initiative 171 Fund for Biological and Medical Research.