Hemostasis, Fibrin Incorporation and Local Mesenchymal Reaction in Erysipelothrix Infection as a Model for Rheumatism Research. In: Glynn LE, Schlumberger HD, editors. Experimental Models of Chronic Inflammatory Diseases. Berlin: Springer Berlin Heidelberg; 1977. pp. 215-37. [DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-66573-8_19]

Methods for Testing Immunological Factors

Hypersensitivity reactions can be elicited by various factors: either immunologically induced, i.e., allergic reactions to natural or synthetic compounds mediated by IgE, or non-immunologically induced, i.e., activation of mediator release from cells through direct contact, without the induction of, or the mediation through immune responses. Mediators responsible for hypersensitivity reactions are released from mast cells. An important preformed mediator of allergic reactions found in these cells is histamine. Specific allergens or the calcium ionophore 48/80 induce release of histamine from mast cells. The histamine concentration can be determined with the o-phthalaldehyde reaction.

The leucocoyte disappearance reaction in non-immune acute inflammation

Injection of a variety of irritants (saline, ovalbumin, compound 48/80 and powdered glass) into the rat pleural cavity induced the disappearance of pleural leucocytes during the first two hours of the reaction. This phenomenon, termed the leucocyte disappearance reaction (LDR), was suppressed by treatment with the anticoagulants heparin and warfarin. The in-vitro incubation of normal, or inflammatory pleural leucocytes resulted in the deposition of dense interconnecting meshwork of fibrin only upon addition of fibrinogen to the culture medium. It is suggested from these results that the LDR is related to the clotting system, involving leucocyte-derived enzyme(s) analogous to those of the clotting system (e.g., tissue thromboplastin), which convert fibrogen to fibrin, resulting in cell-trapping and subsequent "disappearance" of pleural leuococytes. Similarities were observed betweeen the LDR in non-immune inflammation and the macrophage disappearance reaction of cell-mediated immunity. The significance of these phenomena in the inflammatory process, both immune and non-immune, is discussed.