Duration of Passive Immunity. Part III

Abstract

1. The course of disappearance of passive immunity in rabbits injected with diphtheria antitoxin obtained from goats, men, guinea-pigs and cows, consists of the same three phases that follow the injection of horse serum.2. The rabbits examined were more responsive to goat, human and guinea-pig serum than to horse and cow serum.3. The course of disappearance of passive immunity in rabbits, horses and guinea-pigs injected with homologous antitoxin, consists of Phases A and B only, and Phase B is far slower than when heterologous serum is injected into rabbits.4. Sheep and goats eliminate antitoxin obtained from a horse at a very slow rate, and Phase C is hardly detectable.5. Natural immunity of horses to diphtheria toxin is gradually acquired by a number of increasing responses to external stimuli.

Diphtheria antitoxin in the blood of normal horses

“…The best examples to record are those of certain normal horses that were injected with diphtheria antitoxin obtained from other horses and the rate of loss of the passive immunity so conferred was determined by tests upon samples of blood taken at weekly intervals from these horses. Some of these results have already been published by Glenny and Hopkins (1923) who showed that the course of loss of passive immunity is such that the logarithms of the antitoxic titre of the horse fall upon a straight line such as that, 980 (I), shown on chart 2 for the first injection of horse 980. Tbis horse before its injection with antitoxic serum contained less than 0'0005 unit per C.C.…”

“…It was pointed out (Glenny and Hopkins, 1923) that horse 982 " still showed a high antitoxic content over 40 weeks after injection and little or no loss occurred from the 29th to the 40th weeks and then a marked increase in antitoxic value was seen. The various readings of the antitoxic content plot.ted against time do not fall upon a straight line.…”

Immunization against tetanus

“…Dealing with the first of these problems, Glenny & Hopkins (1922, 1923, working with diphtheria antitoxin prepared in horses, showed that sensitized rabbits eliminated the antitoxin more rapidly than normal animals. Similar results have been recorded by Talmage, Dixon, Bukantz & Danmmin (1951 using 1311-labelled serum proteins.…”

Albumin Catabolism

“…Fifty years ago Glenny (1) and Freund (2) and their coworkers demonstrated that passively infused antibody disappeared from the plasma of the recipient due to the combined effects of distribution and catabolism of these molecules. Subsequently, Schoenheimer (3) demonstrated that the other body proteins do not serve the organism for life but are continually being degraded and replaced by newly synthesized molecules.…”

“…Subsequently, Schoenheimer (3) demonstrated that the other body proteins do not serve the organism for life but are continually being degraded and replaced by newly synthesized molecules. The objectives of this review are: (1) to describe the physiological factors affecting albumin catabolism and (2) to consider disorders of albumin survival in disease with special reference to those diseases that exemplify the different pathophysiological mechanisms that lead to abnormalities of albumin survival and abnormal serum albumin levels. From the studies with radiolabeled albumin, especially radioiodinated albumin, a general understanding of the normal metabolism of this protein has emerged.…”