1957 Volume 33 Issue 8 Pages 504-509
(1) A method to identify a bacterial adrenaline sensitizer (B.A.S.) from a small sample (5 cc) of blood was described. This substance, which may be a substance similar to that found by Thomas, was found by the authors to be a relatively heat-stable and watersoluble polysaccharide found in the cell body of shigella, Escherichia coli, and some strains of salmonella, and has the property to be absorbed easily from the intestine and to increase the sensitivity of the blood vessel and the synapse of cerebral cortex to noradrenaline and adrenaline.
By this method it is possible to demonstrate 10γ, sometimes 2γ, of moderately purified B.A.S. in 1 cc of blood. (2) The blood from 36 healthy rabbits was shown containing no B.A.S. (3) The blood of 6 healthy adults, 2 adults suffering from bronchial asthma, 3 adults with benign hypertension, 3 infants and 3 adults suffering from acute glomerulonephritis, 3 adults with chronic glomerulonephritis was also shown containing no B.A.S. (4) The blood of 4 of 5 Ekiri infants on the first day of the disease and the blood of one infant with severe bacillary dysentery on the first day of the disease was shown to be rich in bacterial adrenaline sensitizer-like substance. Also the blood specimen of one of four Ekiri infants on the second day and of three bacillary dysentery infants on the third day, seventh day, and thirteenth day of illness, respectively, showed slightly a B.A.S.-like property.
The blood of 3 Ekiri infants on the second day of illness and 6 other patients with bacillary dysentery on the second, 4th, 5th, 13th, 17th, and 15th day of illness showed a negative result. (5) The cooperation of the noradrenaline and adrenaline mobilized by stress of infection and the B.A.S.-like substance, which was found in the blood of Ekiri patients, may play a leading part in the establishment of a malignant syndrome seen in the infection by salmonella, i.e. in Ekiri.
