THE SYMPATHICO-ADRENAL SYSTEM AND THE PHAGOCYTOSIS OF THE LEUCOCYTES

¹ Research Laboratory of the 2nd Surgical Clinic of the University of Budapest, Hungary

1. Blood serum from anaesthetized dogs was tested for its stimulant action on phagocytosis.

2. Stimulation of the splanchnic nerves increases the action of blood collected from the femoral veins. This effect is partly due to the release of some substance from the adrenals, since it is abolished by ligation of the adrenal veins, and since blood collected from the adrenal veins has high activity, which is increased by splanchnic stimulation.

3. The effect is also partly due to another mechanism, since the injection of adrenaline also increases the action, even in the absence of the adrenals. Desoxycorticosterone and an extract of adrenal cortex did not have this effect.

4. These effects were not directly due to changes in the concentration of adrenaline or histamine in the blood. Desoxycorticosterone and an extract of adrenal cortex has no action in vitro.

5. The substances producing these effects act partly as opsonins and partly by direct stimulation of the leucocytes.