The Journal of Experimental Medicine

Bernheimer, Alan W.

doi: 10.1084/jem.97.5.591pmid: 13052821

The capsular polysaccharide (SIII) of type III pneumococci was removed enzymatically, and the cells thus deprived of preformed SIII were washed and examined for capacity to synthesize SIII anew. The washed, decapsulated cocci lost their capacity to be agglutinated in type-specific antiserum but again became agglutinable and formed readily measurable amounts of SIII, after suspension in a solution containing only glucose and salts. Maximal SIII synthesis required the presence of glucose, magnesium, potassium and phosphate ions, and oxygen. Other fermentable sugars could be substituted for glucose but then the yield of SIII was reduced. Synthesis of SIII occurred anaerobically but was increased four- to fivefold by oxygenation of the suspension. The effects of pH and of enzyme poisons on the capacity of the cocci to form SIII are described. Footnotes Submitted: 29 December 1952

Shope, Richard E.

doi: 10.1084/jem.97.5.601pmid: 13052822

A culture of P. funiculosum isolated on Guam proved capable of elaborating a substance which exerted a favorable therapeutic effect against swine influenza virus infections in white mice. The culture was extremely variable and irregular in its production of the antiviral substance, and during maintenance in the laboratory for several years gradually lost this property. Efforts to restore it were unsuccessful. Subsequently it was found that the mold elaborated a substance, now designated helenine, which is therapeutically effective against Columbia SK encephalomyelitis virus infections in mice. Helenine appears to differ from the substance earlier procured from the mold, which was active against swine influenza virus infections in mice. It is frequently present in greater or lesser amount in the fluid portions of stationary cultures of P. funiculosum but is more regularly obtained and in larger amount, from the cellular components of the pellicles. When liberated from these latter by mechanical bruising and fracturing, it goes into solution in the culture fluids. It is precipitable from aqueous solution by 50 per cent acetone. Infected mice injected with helenine in amounts less than the amount which produces a maximal therapeutic effect exhibit a dosage response. Increasing the dose above the optimum fails to increase the therapeutic effect. Helenine exerts its maximum effect when given within the first 10 hours after viral infection but its influence is apparent even when treatment is delayed for up to 24 hours. It is not effective against massive amounts of virus and gives the best therapeutic results when used in the treatment of animals infected with from 10 to 1000 fatal doses of virus. Treatment of infected mice with helenine delays the entrance of virus into their brains for from 24 to 48 hours. The mechanism by which helenine exerts its therapeutic effect against SK virus is not known but the findings presented suggest either that it causes an inhibition or interruption of multiplication of the virus, slowing down the whole process of infection and spread to the central nervous system, or that in some way it interferes temporarily with the neuroinvasiveness of the virus. Footnotes Submitted: 10 December 1952

Shope, Richard E.

doi: 10.1084/jem.97.5.627pmid: 13052823

Helenine exerts a therapeutic effect against Semliki Forest virus infections of mice. Cures, that is to say the survival of treated animals, were more frequently observed in Semliki Forest virus infections than they were in SK virus infections. It is believed that this difference in end-result probably represented only a quantitative difference in the therapeutic effect of helenine against these two viruses and not a qualitative difference in its mechanism of therapeutic action. The findings reported in this paper with regard to the treatment of Semliki Forest virus infections with helenine parallel very closely those described in an accompanying paper which deals with the action of helenine on SK. virus infections. Footnotes Submitted: 10 December 1952

Shope, Richard E.

doi: 10.1084/jem.97.5.639pmid: 13052824

Helenine is moderately stable in solution at refrigerator temperature and can be kept for long periods of time without evident loss of activity if stored frozen at the temperature of solid CO 2 . It is filterable through a Seitz pad but not dialyzable. Crude SPS preparations of helenine do not lose activity when dried from the frozen state. Some conditions are described, however, which influence the preservation or inactivation of acetone-precipitated helenine when freeze-dried. Helenine is partially inactivated by exposure for 3 minutes to the temperature of a boiling water bath and is completely inactivated by autoclaving at 15 pounds' pressure for 15 minutes. The data presented suggest that helenine acts, either directly or by triggering some mechanism of the host itself, to destroy virus by a process which renders the latter non-antigenic. This effect may be exerted by action upon the virus itself or by interference with some stage in the developmental cycle of the virus. While the chemical nature of helenine is not known, the presence of a large proportion of polysaccharide in crude active preparations might suggest the possible importance of this class of substance in helenine activity. It is believed that helenine differs from the polysaccharide reported by Horsfall and McCarty and the penicillin impurity reported by Groupé and Rake to be active against certain viruses. It may be related, however, to the antiviral substance recently reported by Powell and his co-workers. Footnotes Submitted: 10 December 1952

Cooke, Jean V.; Goldring, David; Kahn, Lawrence I.

doi: 10.1084/jem.97.5.651pmid: 13052825

Observations are reported on the changes which occurred in excised rabbit and human skin after mild trauma and incubation at body temperature. These changes resembled those of chronic inflammation, in that perivascular and diffuse infiltration by histiocytes occurred in the corium and subcutaneous tissue, but they developed within a few hours. The experiments have shown that even after removal from the body certain tissue elements may retain the ability to react with proliferative changes in response to tissue injury if kept under artificially simulated physiological conditions. The possible significance of these changes in relation to the inflammatory process is discussed. Footnotes Submitted: 14 November 1952

Huggins, Charles; Sommer, John Lambert

doi: 10.1084/jem.97.5.663pmid: 13052826

The prostate of the dog was relocated permanently in the perineum where its size could be measured and correlated with the output of prostatic secretion during many months. The secretion of a submaxillary gland obtained through a fistula was utilized as an internal biologic standard of the effects of pilocarpine, the secretory stimulus employed, because the amount and route of administration of the alkaloid are critical factors in inducing secretion. Prostatic secretion was found to be profoundly affected by androgenic and estrogenic compounds, in contrast to salivation. The curves of the secretory response of the prostate and submaxillary glands to pilocarpine proved to be similar and a mathematical formula has been constructed to represent them. When testosterone propionate was administered in increasing quantities for periods of weeks at each level, the volume of the prostate increased in a series of flattened curves. This volume, under the conditions mentioned, was found to stand in a simple arithmetic relationship to the amount of testosterone propionate administered. Moderate quantities of testosterone propionate masked the effects of small amounts of stilbestrol on the prostate. The reverse was also true and the critical amounts of these compounds were defined. The amounts of stilbestrol were determined which lowered the quantity of prostatic secretion resulting from the simultaneous administration of moderate amounts of testosterone propionate in castrate dogs, the result being a level and flat secretory curve which was maintained for many weeks. We designate this effect the plateau phenomenon. When this amount of estrogen was continued, and the dosage of testosterone propionate greatly augmented, the prostatic secretion did not increase in volume. Very slight increases above the critical amount of stilbestrol, however, caused the secretory curve to fall to new and still lower levels though the secretion was never completely suppressed. The acid phosphatase content of the prostatic secretion in the regions of secretory plateaus was similar to that of castrate dogs injected with androgen alone. The plateau phenomenon is due to simultaneous physiologic action of androgenic and estrogenic compounds on the prostatic cells. The depression of prostatic secretion resulting in the plateau phenomenon is due to both functional and structural changes in the prostatic epithelium. They are best explained on the assumption that differences in steroid threshold exist in groups of cells within the prostate, those of the anterior rim of the gland being least susceptible to estrogenic activity. Footnotes Submitted: 25 December 1952

Dahl, Lewis K.

doi: 10.1084/jem.97.5.681pmid: 13052827

The anatomical and histochemical alterations in rat kidneys after the parenteral administration of uranium nitrate UO 2 (NO 3 ) 2 ·6H 2 O have been studied. The histological effects produced by this agent over a wide range of dose levels were nearly identical in character and differed principally in their speed of evolution. The deposition of calcium always began at foci in the cytoplasm of the cells of the proximal convoluted tubules of the inner cortex. It remained intracellular until the cell boundaries were destroyed. Deposits of calcium could be found before any other cellular damage could be demonstrated by histological examination. Later, when degeneration and necrosis were present, the foci of calcification were imperfectly related to them in location or degree. In contrast, the amount of calcification was correlated with the dose of uranium nitrate, being greatest in the kidneys of rats that received 20 mg./kg., next greatest in the 30 mg./kg. rats, less in the 10 mg./kg. rats, and slight in those that received 2 mg./kg. Histochemical stains for ferric and ferrous iron, chondroitinsulfate, and polysaccharides gave results that were negative or unrelated to the deposits of calcium, thus making it unlikely that these substances held any appreciable amount of calcium in the tissue. Yet it is clear that some anion other than phosphate must be combined with part of the calcium; the results with the alizarin and von Kóssa stains confirmed an earlier result (1) in showing that the first deposits of calcium are formed without comparable accumulations of phosphate. Footnotes Submitted: 2 November 1952

Scherer, William F.; Syverton, Jerome T.; Gey, George O.

doi: 10.1084/jem.97.5.695pmid: 13052828

The cells of a human epithelial cancer cultivated en masse have been shown to support the multiplication of all three types of poliomyelitis virus. These cells (strain HeLa of Gey) have been maintained in vitro since their derivation from an epidermoid carcinoma of the cervix in February, 1951. As the virus multiplied it caused in from 12 to 96 hours degeneration and destruction of the cancer cells. The specific destructive effect of the virus was prevented by adding homotypic antibody to the cultures but not by adding heterotypic antibodies. Methods for the preparation of large numbers of replicate cultures with suspensions of strain HeLa cells were described. The cells in suspension were readily quantitated by direct counts in a hemocytometer. A synthetic solution that maintains cellular viability was employed for viral propagation. The experimental results demonstrate the usefulness of strain HeLa cells for ( a ) the quantitation of poliomyelitis virus, ( b ) the measurement of poliomyelitis antibodies, and ( c ) the production of virus. Footnotes Submitted: 19 January 1953

Freund, Jules; Lipton, Murray M.; Thompson, George E.

doi: 10.1084/jem.97.5.711pmid: 13052829

The injection into the dorsal skin of a suspension of guinea pig testis or spermia incorporated in a water-in-oil emulsion containing killed mycobacteria induces aspermatogenesis in guinea pigs. The injury begins with the inhibition of the maturation of spermia and proceeds through the degeneration and exfoliation of spermatids, spermatocytes, and finally spermatogonia. These germinal cells pass from the seminiferous tubules into the epididymis. The process is not associated with inflammation. No significant changes occur in the intertubular spaces and the Leydig cells do not seem to be affected. The seminal vesicles and the prostate remain normal. The aspermatogenesis may begin in 10 days and it lasts for more than 5 months. The process may lead to atrophy of the seminiferous tubules and fibrosis. Guinea pigs which receive a suspension of their own testis or spermia and adjuvants develop a similar injury. The "mitochondrial" fraction of the testis of guinea pig is effective while repeated injections of alcoholic extract of testis emulsified with paraffin oil containing mycobacteria do not cause aspermatogenesis. The presence of acid-fast bacilli in the water-in-oil emulsion containing testis or spermia seems to be essential for the production of testicular lesions; the injection of antigen and mycobacteria into different sites is ineffective. When guinea pig testis is replaced by guinea pig liver or kidney or rabbit testis no testicular damage occurs. The injection of rabbit spinal cord combined with adjuvants results in allergic encephalomyelitis in a large proportion of guinea pigs, accompanied by a great loss of weight. The testes of a few of these animals show a varying degree of aspermatogenesis. When guinea pig brain is combined with adjuvants and administered subcutaneously the incidence of testicular injury is high, although the damage is, in general, mild. From the standpoint of mechanism, the inhibition of spermatogenesis which occurs in these animals may be unrelated to the injury which follows the injection of germinal cells. Aspermatogenesis follows the injection of killed mycobacteria in paraffin oil into the testis as well as into certain sites related to the gonad: the abdominal cavity, the subcutaneous tissue over the abdomen, and the skin of the inguinal region. Antibodies fixing complement in the presence of spermia are demonstrable in the sera of guinea pigs injected with testis or spermia and adjuvants. When the mycobacteria are omitted the titers are low and no testicular injury occurs. Although there seems to be a correlation between testicular damage and complement-fixing titer, this may not be a causal relationship. Antibodies which neutralize guinea pig hyaluronidase and those which immobilize spermia have also been demonstrated in the sera of these guinea pigs. Footnotes Submitted: 19 January 1953

Porter, Keith R.

doi: 10.1084/jem.97.5.727pmid: 13052830

The cytoplasmic ground substance of animal tissue cells grown in vitro has been found by electron microscopy to contain, as a part of its submicroscopic structure, a complex reticulum of strands, to be referred to as the endoplasmic reticulum. It has been found in all types of cells extensively studied. The components of this reticular system vary considerably in size and form, apparently in some relation to physiological changes in the cell. Thus in one cell of a culture colony it may be finely divided into strands or canaliculi, 50 to 100 mµ in diameter, whereas in an adjacent cell of the same type the components of the reticulum may be relatively coarse, 600 mµ in diameter, and vesiculated. The membrane, which can be shown to limit the system and separate it from the rest of the ground substance, is similar in thickness to the plasma membrane surrounding the cell. Photomicrographs of living cells taken by phase contrast and dark field microscopy define a structure of similar form and indicate that the reticulum of the electron microscope image has its equivalent in the living unit. Where its component units are sufficiently large, a structure of identical form can be resolved by light microscopy in cells stained with hematoxylin or with toluidine blue. This indicated that the endoplasmic reticulum is to be identified with the basophilic or chromophilic component (the ergastoplasm) of the cytoplasm and that such properties of this component as have been determined by cytochemical methods, such as a high RNA content, may be assigned to this "submicroscopic" system. Footnotes Submitted: 1 December 1952