The mechanism of action of cortisone in experimental hypersensitivity. II. Hypersensitivity of the serum sickness type.

Cortisone markedly suppressed the cardiovascular and renal lesions of serum sickness type hypersensitivity which ordinarily develop following the intravenous injection of bovine albumin. The inhibitory effect of cortisone on the allergic granulomatous lesions of the spleen was less striking; the lesions were less extensive, but the percentage of animals affected was unchanged. Cortisone in the dosage employed had no effect on the elimination of antigen following its intravenous administration or on the appearance of circulating antibody. These findings indicate that inhibition of the lesions of serum sickness by cortisone does not depend on the suppression of antibody production. Therefore, it is inferred that cortisone somehow protects the animal from the damaging effects of antigen-antibody union.