INDUCTION OF NONSPECIFIC RESISTANCE BY ENDOTOXIN IN UNRESPONSIVE MICE.

Margherita, S. S. (Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pa.), and H. Friedmann. Induction of nonspecific resistance by endotoxin in unresponsive mice. J. Bacteriol. 89:277-280. 1965.-Serratia marcescens endotoxin was tested for protective effect in animals of varying immunological competence. A quantity of endotoxin capable of inducing resistance in mice to a standardized challenge of Diplococcus pneumoniae was equally effective in animals immunologically paralyzed with a high dose of homologous pneumococcal polysaccharide. Failure of the unresponsive state to influence the degree of resistance induced by endotoxin suggests that a specific humoral factor does not play a significant role in the nonspecific resistance.