STUDIES ON TUBERCULIN FEVER* IV. THE PASSIVE TRANSFER OF REACTIVITY WITH VARIOUS TlSSlmS OF SENSITIZED DONOR RABBITS

Fever is a hallmark of tuberculin hypersensitivity. Ever since the dassic papers of von Pirquet (1) and the clinico-pathologic observations of Rich (2), fever has been recognized as a cardinal sign of tuberculous infection. The actual events, however, that lead to elevated body temperature in this disease have remained obscure. Many manifestations of tuberculin hypersensitivity, like the skin test, have been attributed to allergy of the delayed type, of which indeed, this disease is the prototype (reviewed in reference 3). On the other hand, tuberculous infection also gives rise to a variety of circulating antibodies whose role in producing any specific manifestations of this form of hypersensitivity is uncertain (4-7). In regard to fever, a circulating endogenous pyrogen has been noted during experimental fever induced by tuberculin in rabbits sensitized by infection with BCG (bacillus Calmette Gu6rin) (8, 9). Subsequent in vitro experiments have suggested that blood leukocytes (10), alveolar macrophages (11), and Kupffer cells of the liver (12) may be sources of this material. By employing the techniques of passive transfer, the work to be reported here has attempted to define the role of various cells as well as of serum factors in mediating tuberculin-induced fever. In addition, the ability of tuberculin to activate certain specific cell types (exudate granulocytes and peritoneal macrophages) in vitro has been investigated.