The pathogenesis of lesions produced in rabbits by administration of foreign serum proteins.

Abstract

Ever since it was demonstrated that pathological alterations of the hearts (l-13), arteries(2-18), and kidneys(14,19-22) can result from administration of foreign serum proteins in animals, interest in these lesions has resulted from their apparent resemblance to certain diseases in man whose cause is still unknown. The lesions of the heart have been likened by most investigators to the lesions occurring in the hearts of human cases of rheumatic fever(2,3,4,6,7,8,9,10,ll,12,21); the lesions of the arteries to the lesions occurring in human periarteritis nodosa(2-18,21) and those of the kidney to human glomerulonephritis(14,19-22). Whereas the opinion regarding the comparison of the lesions of the arteries and kidneys to the human diseases has been almost unanimous, the idea has been expressed that the lesions of the heart cannot be justifiably compared to the lesions of human rheumatic fever(13,23-25). Since our interest in the experimental lesions stems from interest in their relationship to the lesions of the human diseases, it is pertinent to begin with a consideration of the validity of the comparison of the experimentally-induced with the spontaneously occurring diseases