Local Endotoxin Hypersensitivity and its Relation to the Shwartzman Phenomenon

Abstract

ALTHOUGH there have been previous claims that lesions like the Shwartzman phenomenon can be produced by two large injections of endotoxin into the same site in the skin, in animals other than rabbits (for example, mice)¹, it has been stated that the classical Shwartzman phenomenon is immunologically non-specific in that it does not depend on antigen–antibody reaction^2,3, and it can be elicited only in rabbits^2–4. Recently, however, I have succeeded in demonstrating that the first phase of the Shwartzman phenomenon, that is, preparation of the skin by endotoxin, is a specific reaction depending on a well-characterizable immunological mechanism, namely, the phenomenon of local endotoxin hypersensitivity, and that in appropriate circumstances (a–e) it may be elicited by endotoxins on the skin of guinea pigs and rats also.