THE EXTENSION OF THE SHWARTZMAN PHENOMENON TO THE MOUSE AND SOME ECOLOGICAL DETERMINANTS OF THE SINGLE-INJECTION REACTION

Abstract

The localized Shwartzman reaction has been demonstrated in a highly in-bred mouse strain (BSVS). It has conformed to all the operational and histopathological aspects of the classical reaction. A reaction similar to the above but differing in its manner of production was also investigated and has been termed the single-injection Shwartzman reaction. It was elicited with but a single intradermal injection of bacterial endotoxin. In investigating the lesion it has been demonstrated that inapparent in the gross, but elicitible infection of the lungs with a gram-negative microflora was uniformly associated with single-injection reactivity. It has been suggested that a causal relationship exists between the infected state and the skin reaction on the basis of the Shwartzman mechanism in which the lung flora, demonstrably excited by the preparative injection, appears to mediate natural "endogenous" provocation of the lesion at the prepared skin sites.