Licence: In copyright
Credit: Lobsters, lymph and histamine-liberation / by W.D.M. Paton. Source: Wellcome Collection.
2/12 page 36
Licence: In copyright
Credit: Lobsters, lymph and histamine-liberation / by W.D.M. Paton. Source: Wellcome Collection.
![He then found that extracts of crayfish and lobster muscle were effective lymphagogues; but he also made some other observations, of which his description of the infusion of one of Ins decoctions into a dog is specially significant. “Unmittelbar nach der Injektion suchte das Tier mit der Schnauze fortwahrend auf der Haut herum, wie es stark mit Flohen besetzte Hunde zu tun pflegen. Es schienen also juckende Empfindungen vorhanden zu sein.” If these remarks are taken together with Starling^^ observation that first order lym¬ phagogues cause haemoconcentration, a fall in arterial blood pres¬ sure, a rise in portal venous pressure, and swelling of a limb, there is a substantialcase for suspecting a release of histamine in the action of these substances. That histamine, itself, could be the active principle was improbable, since the muscles were first extracted with alcohol before preparing the decoction. The experiments in this paper were designed initially to test this suspicion that extracts of crustacean muscle owed their lym- phagogue action to histamine release; and also to test the corollary that the recently described histamine liberators (see [6] for a review) should also promote a flow of lymph. Methods Histamine-relea^. To test for histamine release, a tissue with low spontaneous release but as sensitive as possible to histamine liberators was required; there was no expectation that the decoctions described by Heidenhain would be very potent in releasing histamine since both he and Starling required fairly large volumes (of the order of 20-50 ml.) to produce their effects. Accordingly the cat’s perfused skin flap preparation was employed {Feldberg and Paton, 1951) since it is probably the most sensitive specific test available, and has the advantage of a low spontaneous histamine release. The flap was prepared in the usual way from cats anaesthetised with chloralose. Assay of histamine. Histamine in the perfusate from the cat’s skin was assayed on the guineapig ileum. In a few experiments, low doses of mepyramine were added to the test samples to verify that the material released had the properties of histamine. Lymphagogue actions. The thoracic duct was cannulated, after heparinization (10- 20 mg./kg.), in cats anaesthetised with chloralose (80 mg./kg.). The animals also had tracheal cannulae so that artificial respiration could be administered when required. Re¬ cords of blood pressure were taken by means of a heparinised siliconed cannula in the carotid artery. The flow of lymph from the duct was recorded by a drop counter which made a mark on a smoke drum with each drop; there were about 30 drops to 1 cc. of lymph. Preparation of lymphagogue decoctions. Heidenhain'’?, decoctions were prepared as follows: The flesh of edible mussels (Mytilus Edulis), the common lobster (Homarus) or the rock lobster (Palinurus vulgaris) was dissected out from freshly scalded specimens and ground up in a large volume of 95% alcohol (spirits of wine). The grindings were washed with the alcohol until the filtrate through a Buchner funnel was colourless. The alcohol-washed flesh was then dried and stored in vacuo. 100 gm. of flesh yielded about 20 gm. dried](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b3063443x_0002.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
