The Precipitin Reaction Between Type Iii Pneumococcus Polysaccharide and Homologous Antibody

Abstract

Experiments were reported several years ago by the writers (1) leading to an absolute method for the determination of precipitins (2-4). It was originally thought that by following the usual immunological technique, namely incubation of precipitin reactions at 37°C. for 2 hours and letting stand in the ice box overnight, conditions had been established for the maximum precipitation of antibody. While this has been found to be the case for rabbit antisera, experiments such as those given below have shown that the usual immunological practice does not result in maximum precipitation, or in the attainment of true equilibria, in the case of pneumococcus antisera produced in the horse.It appears, moreover, that objections are still being made to the absolute chemical method for the estimation of precipitins on the ground that non-specific protein nitrogen might be included in the values actually found. Since non-specific protein was shown to be

The Immune Response of Human Beings to Brief Infections With Pneumococcus 1

“…When type-specific polysaccharides were used, instead, for precipitation of the antibody, it was not only found that deposition of specific precipitate was usually incomplete in the time ordinarily allotted (8), but also that the complement present in fresh human sera introduced further uncertainties. These have been more fully discussed elsewhere (6).…”

Effect of Tolerance and Immunity on Antibody Affinity

“…A considerable amount of evidence is available which indicates that antibody generally behaves as if it were heterogenous with regard to its affinity for the homologous antigenic determinant (Karush 1956, 1957, Heidelberger & Kendall 1935, Landsteiner & van der Scheer 1936, Pauling et al 1944, Eisen & Karush 1949, Nisonoff & Pressman 1958, Eisen & Siskind 1964. Data obtained in studies of binding affinities were generally found to be consistent with the assumption of a 'normal' (symmetrical) distribution of antibody affinities (Karush 1956, 1957, Pauling et al 1944, Nisonoff & Pressman 1958.…”

Nonspecific Inhibition of PCA Reaction in Immunized Guinea Pigs

“…The sera of 10 guinea pigs were pooled and another pool was made from the sera of 5 rab bits. The antibody content of the pools was determined by the quantitative microprecipitin method of H e id e l b e r g k r a n d K e n d a l l (6). The rabbit pool had 1.06 and the guinea-pig pool 1.80 mg antibody protein/ml.…”