Experimental embolism of the arterioles in guinea pigs with hardened erythrocytes of Triton (Diemy Aylus) torosus and of Chondrotus tenebrosus

The experiments were suggested by a desire to determine experimentally the changes, if there are any, which follow the complete obstruction of the vasa afferentia of the glomeruli of the kidney in mammals. A blocking of such small vessels may be accomplished by the use of the large erythrocytes of newts or salamanders which may be conveniently hardened in Orth's fluid, then washed in water, suspended in sterile salt solution and injected by means of a hypodermic syringe directly into the left ventricle. The corpuscles after hardening measure about 32×12 micromm.

It is necessary to inject a rather heavy suspension of the corpuscles, otherwise so few glomeruli become obstructed that it is difficult to find them in sections; on the other hand, as most of the corpuscles are carried into the brain, convulsions and death are apt to occur if too many are introduced into the arterial circulation.

In the spleen the corpuscles lodge in the central arterioles of the Malpighian bodies and do not cause any lesions.

I have never been able to find the corpuscles in liver or lungs in spite of the study of many serial sections.

In the kidneys also they are not very numerous as a rule, the careful study of serial sections being required to find them. They block the vas afferens completely, but in spite of this the glomerulus remains absolutely intact and no histologic lesions follow elsewhere in the renal tissues. This would make it very improbable that the collapse and fibrosis of the glomeruli in arteriosclerosis is due directly to the mechanical obstruction of the vasa afferentia by the arteriosclerotic process.

In the brain the corpuscles are much more numerous both in the cortex and basilar ganglia.