Pfeiffer Phenomenon

PFEIFFER PHENOMENON (Pfeiffer), the phenomenon of lysis of cholera vibrios introduced into the peritoneal cavity of a guinea pig immune to cholera. Instead of introducing vibrios into the peritoneal cavity of a guinea pig previously immunized against cholera, one can introduce cholera vibrios into the peritoneal cavity of a non-immune guinea pig, but together with specific cholera serum. According to Pfeiffer, a guinea pig weighing 200 grams is immunized under the skin with a small amount of cholera vibrios killed at 60°; on the 8th day, 2 mg of a virulent culture of cholera vibrios are introduced into its peritoneal cavity. To the control animal, 1/4 of this dose is injected into the abdominal cavity. The process of bacterial lysis occurring in the peritoneal cavity is studied by extracting the fluid from the peritoneal cavity at known intervals with capillary pipettes and examining it both in a hanging drop and in stained smears. By conducting such research every 10-15 minutes after the introduction of bacteria, the process of lysis can be traced. The vibrios quickly lose their motility, swell, and then turn into small grains (balls) resembling micrococci. These grains gradually decrease, as if melting, and finally the peritoneal cavity is freed of vibrios and the grains derived from them: the animal remains alive. In contrast, in the control guinea pig, the vibrios continue to move actively, multiply, maintaining their form, and after several hours the animal dies. The process of lysis has a strictly specific character. Pfeiffer initially claimed that his phenomenon occurs only in a living organism; however, Metchnikoff and Bordet showed that the process of lysis also occurs outside the organism in a hanging drop. The Pfeiffer phenomenon does not have universal significance; it is certain only that under the conditions described above, cholera vibrios undergo lysis; as for other microbes, some researchers observed their lysis (Radziewski - B. pyocyaneus, B. typhi, pneumococcus, streptococcus; Topfer, Jaffe, Bohme and others - B. paratyphosus B, etc.), while other authors (Neufeld) dispute these data. According to Kraus, Hofer and others, tubercle bacilli in the peritoneal cavity of an immune guinea pig also undergo lysis with the formation of grains; this opinion has not been confirmed in the works of other researchers. Regarding the significance of the phenomenon, it should be noted that even early researchers (Svenson) pointed out that even after the completion of the bacteriolysis process, the presence of viable vibrios can be proven in the peritoneal cavity. In light of modern concepts about the variability of microbes and their cyclic development, the question of the essence of the phenomenon requires revision. Technically, the bacteriolysis reaction requires adherence to certain conditions regarding the dosage of material, the virulence of bacteria, etc.

*B. Lyubarsky. PFLUGER Eduard-Friedrich-Wilhelm (Eduard Pfluger, 1829-1910), outstanding German physiologist; studied in Berlin under the famous Müller and under his student Dubois-Reymond. In 1859 he received the title of ordinary professor and organized a new Institute of Physiology in the city of Bonn. He worked in various branches of physiology, mainly on issues of electrophysiology (see P. laws, electrotonus), physiology of respiration and metabolism (first discovered the localization of oxidative processes in the tissues themselves), as well as in the field of embryology. P. has a great merit in the development of the doctrine of reflexes. P. is the author of the cyanic theory of the origin of life, which now has mainly historical significance. In 1868 he founded the journal "Archiv fur die gesamte Physiologie", which is still published today. In 1910, this journal was named after its founder - Pfluger's Archiv - and it is the largest and most famous physiological journal. During P.'s lifetime, 132 volumes were published. Of Pfluger's works, the best known are: "Untersuchungen uber der Physiologie des Elektrotonus" (B., 1859), works on oxidative processes in the animal organism, "on the theory of sleep, on the duration of life".