RELATION OF THE pH OF NASAL SECRETIONS IN SITU TO THE ACTIVITY OF LYSOZYME: REPORT OF A CASE OF EXPERIMENTALLY INDUCED ALLERGIC RHINITIS

Abstract

In previous communications I¹reported that thep_Hof nasal secretions in situ in clinically normal nasal passages ranges from approximately 5.5 to 6.5 and that these secretions become alkaline during acute rhinitis and acute rhinosinusitis and during the more active phases of allergic rhinitis. In the light of Meyer's²recent accomplishment—increasing the activity of lysozyme from eight to two hundred and fifty times by the addition of a minute amount of biotin—the relationship of thep_Hof nasal secretions in situ to the activity of lysozyme is of interest. Lysozyme was first described in 1922 by Dr. Alexander Fleming, discoverer of penicillin. It is a substance found in various body tissues and secretions—among them, nasal secretions—which has the property of dissolving certain bacteria. Though lysozyme is most active against nonpathogenic organisms, it can attack pathogenic organisms when allowed to act in the full strength in which it occurs in