Abstract
The preparations of the commercial hirudin of Sachse & Co., which we have examined have proven to be very toxic for dogs, but much less toxic for rabbits. Doses of from 20 to 25 mgm. per kilo proved fatal to dogs with symptoms of severe bloody diarrhoea and continuous vomiting. Smaller doses (even 1.3 mgm. per kilo) gave definite symptoms of depression, vomiting and diarrhoea. At autopsy, the dogs showed a very marked congestion and hemorrhagic condition of the intestinal tract with hemorrhagic patches in the lungs and pericardium and occasionally in the spleen. Examination of sections shows definite changes in the liver and kidney. The toxic action has been shown not to be due to the hirudin of the preparation nor to any substance of the leech heads extracted by distilled water. The effects on rabbits very much resemble those obtained by Sievert, who probably had a similarly toxic preparation. While the picture at autopsy very strongly suggests death from some product of putrefaction, and resembles very closely that described for sepsin, the character of the toxic principle has not been further investigated.
The leech extract obtained by extraction with water and coagulation of the proteins at 82°-85° is non-toxic in quantities that render the circulating blood non-coagulable and is without apparent effect upon the subsequent health of the animal. This confirms the conclusions of Abel, Rowntree and Turner concerning hirudin in their vividiffusion experiments. The blood pressure experiments confirm on dogs the observations of von Hertzen and Öhman on rabbits that the injection of hirudin causes a transitory fall in pressure. The fact that Bodong observed no change in blood pressure in rabbits on injection of hirudin is probably explained by the extreme slowness of his injections.
Footnotes
- Received June 15, 1915.
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