Cardiac lesions produced in rabbits by massive injections of bovine serum gamma globulin.

Granulomatous lesions of the valves and valve rings have been produced in 52 per cent of rabbits treated by massive intravenous administrations of bovine gamma globulin in such a way as to establish a state of anaphylactic hypersensitivity in the animals. The incidence of the lesions is greater than has heretofore been reported as produced by the use of any type of foreign protein injection in rabbits. The use of a purified protein antigen has resulted in the production of several different types of lesions; namely, a granulomatous inflammation of heart valves and valve rings, a glomerulonephritis, and an arteritis. The lesions of the heart cannot be regarded as being identical with the lesions of human rheumatic fever, but they are considered to be sufficiently similar to warrant a continuation of this approach to the study of the etiology and pathogenesis of rheumatic fever in man.