THE INFLUENCE OF QUININE AND MORPHIA UPON PHAGOCYTOSIS

H.Lyon Smith
1910 The Lancet  
1342 was noticed that the swelling in the left leg had considerably diminished ; it was much softer and free from pain. The pulmonary systolic murmur could still bo heard, although not so marked. On June 3rd there was a considerably impaired note over the lower half of the upper lobe, and the whole of the lower lobe and axilla, with marked tubular breathing, bronchophony, and pectoriloquy. The pleuritic rub was still very much in evidence. The temperature was 99°, respiratory rate 60, and pulse
more » ... 96, regular, and of medium tension. The pulmonary sounds were now clear. The patient was very cheerful. She had a slight dry cough, but no sanguineous expectoration. She complained of a slight pain in the axilla when she took a deep breath. She was taking an abudance of fluid nourishment. On the 9th the respiratory rate had dropped to 30. There was good air entry at the base, but dulness persisted over the axilla, the lower half of the upper lobe, and the upper half of the lower lobe ; and over these areas there were still tubular breathing, bronchophony, and pectoriloquy. There was still an occasional dry cough but no expectoration. The temperature was normal. The left leg had resumed its normal size. The lung symptoms gradually cleared up, and on the 18th the pulse was 72, regular, and strong. The respiratory rate was 24, and there was good air entry over the whole lung. She still had a little pain over the lower axilla when taking a deep breath. She was up and about on the 19th, and on August 5th was quite well. The chief points in the case were : (1) the large area of lung involved ; (2) the almost simultaneous disappearance of the ce lema in the leg, coincident with the lung lesion ; (3) the small amount of pyrexia, pointing to an aseptic condition of the lung lesion ; (4) the high respiratory rate, due to the large amount of lung tissue thrown out of action ; and (5) total absence of any sanguineous expectoration, and practically no cough. I should add that the urine was examined and nothing abnormal was found. The case occurred in the practice of Dr. W. W. Anderson of Tring, and I am indebted to him for permission to publish it. Mumbles, near Swansea. IT may be accepted that experiments in vitro fail to reproduce the complicated processes which occur in the living subject, and that deductions drawn from them are unsound unless other evidence can be adduced in support. In spite of this discouraging premise, I have ventured to make a series of researches to ascertain, if possible, the truth of the oftrepeated statement that quinine, like alcohol in excess, inhibits phagocytosis, and is therefore contra-indicated in all septic conditions. The opsonic index was taken as a basis for the work, with the additional factor of a solution of quinine and morphia. By way of control, to avoid the possibility of error in the index being affected by chemotaxis, in each group one index was taken with a volume of salt solution in place of the quinine and morphia, but it did not appear that the mere mechanical effect of diluting the ordinary constituents of an opsonic content influenced the result of the count. The very soluble acid hydrochloride of quinine was selected because it is much less irritating than the sulphate and contains 8 per cent. more quinine. Morphia hydrochloride, 1/8 grain, was added to each 10 grains of the quinine salt, because in practice I have found the combination more efficacious than either alkaloid used alone. It was roughly calculated that a 10-grain dose given to a 10-stone person, if entirely absorbed, would represent in the blood a proportion of 1 in 7500, on Waller's estimate that the ratio between the weight of the blood and the weight of an individual is about 1 to 15. The influence of this solution (1/7500, eqnivalent to a 10 grain dose) upon the phagocytosis of different kinds of pathogenic organisms (e.g., streptococci, staphylococci, pneumococci, B. coli, B. influenzas, B. pseudodiphtberias, and B. tuberculosis) was contrasted with stronger and weaker solutions to ascertain the effect of varying doses. The details of a typical experiment were as follows:-A 0 ne volume each of (1) washed human blood corpuscles, :2) human serum ; (3) fresh emulsion of living B. coli; and :4) 1, 7500 solution of quinine and morphia. These were ;10roughly mixed in a Wright's pipette, sealed, and incubated In an opsoniser at 370 C. for 15 minutes. Films were then made, stained, and counted. In B of the same group No. 4 contained 1/30,000 solution 3f quinine and morphia, equivalent to a 2-grain dose. In C No. 4 was replaced by a volume of sodium chloride solution, 0' 85 per cent. In 1) No. 4 was omitted, as in an ordinary test for an opsonic index. To avoid the risk of bias, or as Sir Almroth Wright put it, " to be careful lest one should find what one wished to find," the different slides were shuffled" by an independent person and thus counted without knowledge of which was which. Dr. W. E. de forth was kind enough to help me in this matter and to corroborate the results in some cases by making independent counts. In this n. coli experiment the phagocytic counts were A = 428, B = 321, C = 164, and D = 261, 100 polynuclear leucocytes being counted in each case. The addition of quinine and morphia had increased the phagocytosis in this case by 64 per cent. for the 10-grain dose and 23 per cent. for the 22-grain dose. I was only able to complete 11 sets of experiments, and in the majority of them there was an increased phagocytosis, always most marked with the 10-grain dose solution. S/lmmary of Results sho7i,ing Inrwease of Phagooytosis. Per cent. Per cent.
doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(00)52741-x fatcat:hv7nyx6ie5ftriqxc2a4y3eas4