Anti-inflammatory properties of lyophilized inflammatory exudates

¹ Department of Biology, Long Island University, Brooklyn, New York; and Warner-Lambert Research Institute, Morris Plains, New Jersey

Lyophilized granuloma pouch exudates obtained from intact or adrenalectomized rats contain an anti-inflammatory substance active parenterally in the cotton pellet and in the granuloma pouch methods. In these crude preparations the activity is only a small fraction of that of cortisone acetate. Both exudates are active in hypophysectomized animals but not in adrenalectomized animals. It appears that the active fraction is not itself an adrenal steroid, but it is possible that small amounts of adrenal hormones act as conditioning factors for the anti-inflammatory activity. The release of a nonadrenal anti-inflammatory substance during inflammation would help explain some anergic phenomena; such a substance could also be involved in limiting and terminating the inflammatory process.