The specificity of serological reactions / by Karl Landsteiner.

  • Landsteiner, Karl, 1868-1943.
Date:
[1936], ©1936
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The specificity of serological reactions / by Karl Landsteiner. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    actions reveal a twofold specificity, that of the particular pro- tein and, for each, that of the species. Blood serum contains at least four serologically distinct species specific proteins (globulin, fibrinogen, serum mucoid, albumin) and likewise in milk and eggs several protein antigens are demonstrable. When sera are produced with such mixtures the various antibodies corresponding to the single components can be separated with- out difficulty by partial precipitation. In such an experiment, after addition of a sufficient amount of horse globulin to an anti-horse immune serum possessing precipitins for both globulin and albumin, the supernatant fluid obtained by centrifuging no longer acted on globulin, though still with undiminished inten- sity on albumin.29 Serum globulins and albumins have been examined fre- quently, in precipitin reactions and in anaphylactic experi- ments’0 they behave like entirely different substances31 even when derived from the same species. On the other hand, a high degree, of overlapping is found upon comparing globulins or albumins, respectively, of closely related animal species, for instance, testing a precipitin serum prepared with ox globulin against sheep and goat globulin. By means of precipitin tests it was possible to verify the questioned chemical individuality oi albumins and globulins and their presence in unaltered blood serum, and also to disprove the reports on artificial preparation of globulin from albumin.32 29 Landsteinerand van der Scheer (51). !° Plienomenon of anaphylaxis may be described as follows: an animal injected with a small quantity of an antigen (e.g. 0.001 mg. of serum g o u in) becomes sensitized to a second injection of the same sub- s ance otherwise innocuous, given after a certain interval, the result be- ing either death or characteristic symptoms (anaphylactic shock). Since tms sensitization is tantamount to immunization and anaphylactic shock c epenc s upon an antigen-antibody reaction, the anaphylactic reactions aye t ic same significance for the questions under consideration as serum tests carried out in vitro. See (45) p. 759, Dale (103). (i°4 112), (51) p. Q7. According to Chick (113) euglobulin is a com- pound of pseudoglobulin and lipoids; cf. (n4), (115), (104-112). ranconi; Hooker and Boyd (1x6).