The value of the opsonic index as a guide in the treatment of bacterial infection / by Charles Frederick Bolduan.

  • Bolduan, Charles, 1873-1950.
Date:
1907
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The value of the opsonic index as a guide in the treatment of bacterial infection / by Charles Frederick Bolduan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    3/10
    THE VALUE, AS A G OF BA> By CHAi T THE OPSONIC INDEX I THE ^TREATMENT TRIAL ID^EECTION.^ y 310XDUAN, M.D., Bacteriologist, Research Laboratory, Health Department City of New York; Professor of Bacteriology and Hygiene, Fordham University, New York. Historical.—As far back as 1858 Haeckel had observed that particles of indigo injected into the veins of certain molluscs could shortly afterwards be found in the blood cells of the animal. However, the significance of this and other similar observations was not appre- ciated, until Metchnikoff in 1883 called attention to their bearing on infection and immunity. The outcome of his investigations was the establishment of the well-known doctrine of phago- cytosis, the principle of which is that the leucocytes attack and destroy the micro-organisms which have invaded the tissues. Metchnikoff’s theory of immunity found but little acceptance, the more so since the studies of Nut- tall, Pfeiffer, Behring, Ehrlich and others demonstrated a great variety of protective substances present in the serum of immune animals. As time went on Metchnikoff also realized that the serum constituents played an im- portant part in the destruction of bacteria, but he interpreted this action as being a stimulation of the leuco- cytes, and he spoke of these sub- stances as stimulins. In 1903 A. E. Wright, of England, discovered certain constituents in blood serum which acted on bacteria and rendered them more easily taken up by the phagocytic cells. He called this substance opsonin and showed that it was present in normal serum and in the serum of infected individuals, *Read at the 477th Meeting of the Brooklyn Pathological Society, May 9, 1907. though in the latter, as will be dis- cussed directly, it varied considerably from the average normal content. . By means of absorption tests, modeled after those of Ehrlich and Morgen- roth, he showed that the opsonin has a specific affinity for the bacteria and none for the leucocytes. The opsonins for staphylococcus prepare only staphylococci, those for tubercle only tubercle bacilli, etc. If perfectly fresh, washed, normal leucocytes are mixed with a bacterial emulsion, phagocytosis is very slow, so slow in fact that at the end of fifteen to twenty minutes at 37 degrees C. the cells may still be empty. Under the influence of a serum containing opsonin the same leucocytes would have loaded them- selves with bacteria, as can be seen by examining such a parallel control. It may be added that the leucocytes are believed by Metchnikoff to be the source of the opsonins. This author shows that the leucocytes act as phago- cytes even without free opsonin, only it takes them longer to do it. The work of Hektoen seems to have clearly established that opsonins are distinct antibodies and not identical with bac- teriolytic immune bodies. In the fur- ther study of these opsonins Wright developed the idea that they were highly important in combating a number of bacterial infections, and soon published observations on the opsonins in tubercle and staphylococ- cus infections. His observations showed that inoculations of the cor- responding bacteria produced marked