STUDIES ON TUBERCULIN FEVER

Abstract

In a search for the source of the circulating endogenous pyrogen (EP) that mediates tuberculin-induced fever, tuberculin was incubated in vitro with various tissues of rabbits sensitized by intravenous infection with BCG. Evidence was obtained that tuberculin specifically stimulates cells in the blood of sensitized rabbits to generate pyrogen in vitro, whereas both lymph node and spleen cells from the same donors were inactive. Since Normal blood cells, incubated in plasma of sensitized donors, were similarly activated, it is postulated that circulating antibodies play a role in sensitizing cells (presumably granulocytes) to release pyrogen on contact with tuberculin, both in vitro and in vivo. Release of endogenous pyrogen in vitro may be a sensitive means of detecting immunologic reactions between antigen and specifically sensitized blood cells in other allergic states accompanied by fever.