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Abstract
A description is given of the biological properties of two substances produced extracellularly by a strain of Escherichia coli 078 K80, grown in aerated liquid culture. One of the materials was of high molecular weight and possessed the properties of endotoxin extracted from whole organisms by chemical methods. In mice this material was toxic, induced non-specific resistance to infection with Salmonella typhi, necrotized Sacroma 180, and elicited the local and general Shwartzman reactions. In rabbits it was strongly pyrogenic, dermonecrotic, and induced formation of precipitating antibodies. Heat, chemicals and enzymes did not affect its toxicity, but acid hydrolysis rendered it non-toxic. We have called this substance ‘free endotoxin’. The other material was of lower molecular weight and apart from inducing nonspecific resistance to infection with S. typhiin mice, it had none of the properties of the endotoxin.
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