scholarly journals THE COMPLEMENT FIXATION REACTION WITH PNEUMOCOCCUS CAPSULAR POLYSACCHARIDE

1936 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth Goodner ◽  
Frank L. Horsfall
Keyword(s):  
Capsular Polysaccharide ◽  
Complement Fixation ◽  
Selective Adsorption ◽  
Horse Serum ◽  
Rabbit Serum ◽  
Negative Results ◽  
Fixation Reaction ◽  
Immune Aggregates ◽  
Positive Results ◽  
Immune Rabbit

1. Complement is not fixed by immune aggregates resulting from the interaction of pneumococcus capsular polysaccharide and type-specific immune horse serum, although under proper conditions the substitution of immune rabbit serum gives positive results. 2. The negative results with immune horse serum are due to some poorly understood property of the specific antibodies rather than to some heterologous inhibitor present in the serum. 3. It has been shown that with immune rabbit serum-polysaccharide combinations, complement fixation is an adsorptive phenomenon conditioned upon the surface exposure of the immune aggregates. 4. A close parallelism to the selective adsorption of phosphatides by these immune aggregates has been pointed out. 5. In those instances in which complement is fixed this phenomenon must be regarded as tertiary and conditioned by (a) union of antigen and antibody, and (b) particulation. 6. The general significance of complement fixation as applied to bacterial polysaccharides has been discussed.

scholarly journals ANAPHYLAXIS WITH THE TYPE-SPECIFIC CARBOHYDRATES OF PNEUMOCOCCUS

1929 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 251-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oswald T. Avery ◽  
William S. Tillett
Keyword(s):  
Guinea Pigs ◽  
Anaphylactic Shock ◽  
Horse Serum ◽  
Free Form ◽  
Rabbit Serum ◽  
Type Ii ◽  
Type Iii ◽  
Positive Results ◽  
Anaphylactic Response ◽  
Immune Rabbit

1. The type-specific carbohydrates (haptens) of Pneumococcus Types I, II and III, when isolated in protein-free form, are devoid of the property of inducing active anaphylactic sensitization in guinea pigs. 2. The bacterial carbohydrates of Pneumococcus, of which the Type II and Type III substances are nitrogen-free, produce rapid and fatal anaphylactic shock in guinea pigs passively sensitized with the precipitating serum of rabbits immunized with pneumococci of the homologous type; the reactions induced are type-specific. 3. In contrast to the positive results with immune rabbit serum, there is a complete absence of anaphylactic response to pneumococcus carbohydrate in guinea pigs passively sensitized with antipneumococcus horse serum.

The Bilharzia Complement Fixation Reaction in Goats infected with Schistosoma mattheei and Schistosoma bovis

1933 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 181-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Hamilton Fairley
Keyword(s):  
Complement Fixation ◽  
Alcoholic Extract ◽  
Schistosoma Bovis ◽  
Fixation Reaction ◽  
Positive Results

1. The sera of 18 goats were investigated for the bilharzia complement fixation reaction, using as antigen alcoholic extract of the livers of snails (Planorbis exustus) infected with cercariae of S. spindale.2. The sera of 5 out of 7 goats harbouring S. mattheei, and of 4 out of 4 goats exposed to alimentary infection with S. bovis yielded positive results, the range of complement fixation varying from 5 to 20 M.H.D.'s.3. The sera of non-infected goats and of 3 goats exposed to infection with cercariae of S. mansoni from which these animals appear naturally immune, yielded negative reactions.4. The complement fixation reaction with cercarial antigen (S. spindale) has now been applied to infestation with 3 human and 4 cattle schistosomes, and its group applicability to mammalian schistosomiasis may be regarded as proven.

scholarly journals Antibodies against Entamoeba histolytica in individuals with intestinal amoebiasis presenting cysts and/or trophozoites in the feces

1991 ◽  
Vol 33 (5) ◽  
pp. 379-383
Author(s):  
Maria das Graças Carvalho ◽  
Semíramis Guimarães ◽  
Edward Felix Silva
Keyword(s):  
Entamoeba Histolytica ◽  
Complement Fixation ◽  
Serum Samples ◽  
Indirect Hemagglutination ◽  
Intestinal Amoebiasis ◽  
Immunological Reactions ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Fixation Reaction ◽  
Positive Results

Serum samples were obtained from 154 individuals infected with Entamoeba histolytica (78 symptomatic and 76 asymptomatic). Twelve had trophozoites in the feces whereas 142 had only cysts. The sera were used to test the existence of antibodies anti-Entamoeba histolytica employing the Indirect Hemagglutination (IHA), Indirect Immunofluoresccnce (IFAT), Complement Fixation Reaction (CFR) and Counterimmunoelectrophoresis (CIEP). For those individuals with trophozoites in their feces, 75.0 were positive by IHA and IFAT, 83.0 by CFR and 41.7 by CIEP. In individuals who had only cysts, positive results by the same tests were respectively, 5.6%, 12.0%, 19.0% and 5.6%. The difference in relation to the tilers of antibodies detected through IHA, IFAT, CFR and CIEP and in relation to the presence of trophozoites or cysts in the feces was significative for four immunological reactions when X², was employed (P < 0.05).

scholarly journals QUANTITATIVE EXPERIMENTS WITH ANTIBODIES TO A SPECIFIC PRECIPITATE. I

1941 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry P. Treffers ◽  
Michael Heidelberger
Keyword(s):  
Horse Serum ◽  
Serum Antibody ◽  
Protein Molecule ◽  
Antigenic Specificity ◽  
Rabbit Serum ◽  
Type I ◽  
Egg Albumin ◽  
Homologous Antigen ◽  
Antibody Function ◽  
Immune Rabbit

1. Rabbits were injected with the washed specific precipitate from Type II antipneumococcus horse serum. Antibody in the resulting antiserum was determined by the quantitative agglutinin method using various specific precipitates as antigens. 2. Suspensions of Types I and II antipneumococcus horse specific precipitates, as well as the specific precipitates derived from Type VIII Pn (anti-C portion), and H. influenzae horse antisera were found to remove the same amount of antibody from the immune rabbit serum. 3. Purified antibody solutions prepared by dissociation methods from Types I and II antipneumococcus horse sera were found to remove the same quantity of antibody as did the homologous specific precipitates. 4. Specific precipitates from anti-crystalline egg albumin and anti-diphtheria horse sera were found to remove only a fraction of the antibody. The reasons for this are discussed. 5. A specific precipitate prepared from pepsin-digested Type I anti-pneumococcus horse serum removed all of the antibody to the homologous antigen from the rabbit anti-precipitate serum, but followed a different quantitative course. 6. From the quantitative course of these reactions and from experiments with specific precipitates from anti-Pn rabbit and pig sera it is concluded that the only antigenic specificity demonstrable for the antibodies investigated was that due to their common origin, and that the groupings responsible for their antibody function constitute either a small part of the total protein molecule or else are non-antigenic.

scholarly journals THE PROTECTIVE ACTION OF TYPE I ANTIPNEUMOCOCCUS SERUM IN MICE

1936 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 377-383 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth Goodner ◽  
Frank L. Horsfall
Keyword(s):  
Selective Adsorption ◽  
Protective Action ◽  
Horse Serum ◽  
Rabbit Serum ◽  
Type I ◽  
Antibody Complex ◽  
Antigen Antibody

1. The addition of small amounts of cholesterol and of cephalin reduces markedly the protective action of antipneumococcus horse serum. 2. These lipids do not affect the protective action of antipneumococcus rabbit serum. 3. These findings may be explained (a)by the selective adsorption of lipid on the antigen-antibody complex, and (b) by certain lipid antagonisms. 4. The failure of large amounts of immune horse serum to protect mice against pneumococcus infection is explicable on the basis of selective participation of lipids dependent upon the species from which the antibody is derived. 5. The lipids modify the results of protection tests only through participation in the process of specific sensitization.

The life cycle of the British rabbit trypanosome, Trypanosoma nabiasi Railliet, 1895

Parasitology ◽  
1957 ◽  
Vol 47 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 100-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manohar Singh Grewal
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Intermediate Host ◽  
Peripheral Blood ◽  
Protective Action ◽  
Rabbit Serum ◽  
Negative Results ◽  
Trypanosoma Lewisi ◽  
Domestic Rabbits ◽  
Hind Gut ◽  
Immune Rabbit

This work was carried out with a strain of trypanosomes isolated by inoculation into domestic rabbits of fleas naturally infected from wild rabbits in Hertfordshire.The course of infection was studied in experimentally infected normal and splenectomized rabbits, in which the incubation period varied from 5 to 12 days. After recovery from the infection, rabbits became immune to re-infection. Immune rabbit serum had no protective action against Trypanosoma lewisi.Attempts to infect other animals with the rabbit trypanosome produced negative results.Young rabbits proved to be more susceptible to infection with this trypanosome, and their parasitaemia lasted longer than in adult rabbits, but the parasite was found to be non-pathogenic to these animals.It was demonstrated that this trypanosome multiplies in the spleen, where the stages of division are confined to the capillaries. Multiplication follows the inoculation of metacyclic trypanosomes from infected fleas or blood forms. It proceeds by division of the nucleus and kinetoplast into four, followed by fission of the cytoplasm, giving rise to four small daughter individuals. These are transformed into trypanosome forms, which are shed into the peripheral blood, where they change into the typical adult trypanosomes.The development in the intermediate host takes place in the gut of the rabbit flea, Spilopsyllus cuniculi, with the production of metacyclic trypanosomes in the hind-gut (posterior station).The nomenclature and synonymy of the rabbit trypanosome are discussed, and it is concluded that its valid name is Trypanosoma nabiasi Railliet, 1895.

scholarly journals A Study of Non-specific Complement-fixation with particular reference to the Interaction of Normal Serum and certain Non-antigenic substances

1928 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 172-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. J. Mackie ◽  
M. H. Finkelstein
Keyword(s):  
Human Serum ◽  
Complement Fixation Test ◽  
Complement Fixation ◽  
Normal Serum ◽  
Fixation Test ◽  
Normal Human Serum ◽  
Rabbit Serum ◽  
Considerable Proportion ◽  
Normal Human ◽  
Fixation Reaction

1. When a solution of commercial peptone is substituted for antigen in a complement-fixation test with the unheated normal serum of certain species (man, ox, sheep, horse, rabbit, white rat), a definite fixation reaction occurs both at 37° C. and at 0° C. In the ox, sheep, horse and rabbit this property of serum is partially stable at 55° C., but normal human serum and the serum of the white rat are inactive after heating at this temperature. The property is resident mainly in the carbonic-acid-insoluble globulins of the serum.2. The same results are obtained when ethyl alcohol diluted with several volumes of normal saline solution is substituted for antigen in a complement-fixation test with normal serum.3. Analysis of these reactions shows a close correspondence with complement-fixation by the sera of normal animals plus the Wassermann “antigen”—the Wassermann reaction of normal animals.4. Marked complement-fixation effects are also obtained with heated normal serum of the rabbit, ox, sheep, horse plus cholesterol suspension, and particularly cholesterolised-peptone, these effects occurring in parallel with those produced by serum plus alcohol-saline, peptone solutions and the Wassermann “antigen.” The heated normal serum of the pig, white rat and guinea-pig do not exhibit these reactions, and the same applies to heated normal human serum. Unheated pig serum fails to react. Such results also elicit a close relationship between these non-specific reactions and the Wassermann reactions of normal animals.5. The reacting property is absent from the serum (heated and unheated) of young rabbits during the first 2 to 3 weeks of life, but appears soon after this (e.g. by the 37th day) and is progressive in development. Its development in early life runs parallel to that of the natural haemolytic property of the serum for sheep's blood (due to a natural antibody-like substance). The two properties are, however, independent as illustrated by absorption tests.6. Besides the agents referred to above as capable of fixing complement along with normal sera, other substances possess a similar property, e.g. certain alcohols, sodium oleate, tissue proteins, certain amino-acids and sodium nucleate. Commercial peptone purified by precipitation with alcohol is equally active with the original material. Cholesterolisation of these agents may yield a product whose activity is greater than that due to summation of effects.7. Wassermann-positive and -negative human sera have been tested in the complement-fixation reaction with certain of these “pseudo-antigens,” viz. alcohol-saline, peptone, cholesterol, and cholesterolised-peptone, but a uniform parallelism has not been demonstrated between the reactions with these agents and the Wassermann effect. Some Wassermann-positive sera react also with alcohol-saline, peptone, cholesterol and cholesterolised-peptone, while sera from selected normal persons are quite inactive. A considerable proportion of Wassermann-positive sera yields definite complement-fixation with cholesterol and cholesterolised-peptone; a small proportion of Wassermann-negative sera reacts with these agents.8. The thermolability of the serum principles acting with various “pseudoantigens” has been studied by testing unheated serum and serum heated at temperatures ranging from 46° to 60° C. Two types of thermolability curve have been demonstrated with different specimens of rabbit serum: (1) a more or less progressive weakening of the various reactions with inactivation at 60° C.; (2) inactivation of the effects with Wassermann “antigen,” alcoholsaline and cholesterol at 50–52° C., activation of the effects with the Wassermann “antigen” and cholesterol at 54–56°C. and inactivation again above 60° C.; in this case the curves for peptone and cholesterolised-peptone do not show such double inactivation. Unheated normal human serum yields reactions with the various agents (including the Wassermann “antigen”) but inactivation occurs at 50° to 54° C. whereas certain syphilitic sera yield thermolability curves somewhat similar to type (1) of rabbit serum, with inactivation at 60° C. or over.

Absence of Brain Antibodies in Senile Dementia

1970 ◽  
Vol 116 (533) ◽  
pp. 447-448 ◽  
Author(s):  
Senga Whittingham ◽  
Vanda Lennon ◽  
Ian R. Mackay ◽  
G. Vernon Davies ◽  
Brian Davies
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Sclerosis ◽  
Complement Fixation ◽  
Senile Dementia ◽  
Brain Cell ◽  
Cell Nuclei ◽  
Disease States ◽  
Negative Results ◽  
Autoimmune Processes ◽  
Positive Results ◽  
Carcinomatous Neuropathy

In recent years the recognition of autoimmune processes has led to important advances in our understanding of certain diseases of hitherto uncertain causation (Mackay and Burnet, 1963). In psychiatry, schizophrenia has been the main focus of studies of auto-immunity, with Heath and Krupp (1967) reporting positive results of tests for antibodies to brain cell nuclei and Whittingham et al. (1968) reporting negative results. Studies have been described (McAlpine et al., 1965) in which antibodies were detected to whole brain homogen- ates, mostly by complement-fixation, in various disease states that included multiple sclerosis. Wilkinson and Zeromski (1965) found, by immunofluorescence, serum antibodies to cytoplasm of neurones in four of eight patients with carcinomatous neuropathy.

The Complement Fixation Reaction in Schistosoma japonicum with Cercarial Antigen prepared from Oncomelania hupensis

1935 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-40
Author(s):  
Mary N. Andrews
Keyword(s):  
Schistosoma Japonicum ◽  
Positive Reaction ◽  
Complement Fixation ◽  
Clonorchis Sinensis ◽  
Alcoholic Extract ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Oncomelania Hupensis ◽  
Weak Reaction ◽  
Negative Results ◽  
Fixation Reaction

1. The preparation of a cercarial antigen from infected livers of Oncomelania hupensis the intermediate host of Schistosoma japonicum in China is described.2. The sera of 49 human beings and five dogs have been investigated for the Schistosome complement fixation reaction, using as antigens Bilharzial cercarial antigen, and an alcoholic extract of the livers of Oncomelania hupensis infected with cercariae of S. japonicum.3. Thirty-seven of the 49 sera examined were from cases of Schistosomiasis, and of these 24 gave a positive complement fixation reaction, and 2 others a weak reaction.4. Of the five dogs examined three were infected with Schistosoma japonicum. These gave positive reactions.5. In 24 cases both antigens were used, and the results obtained were almost identical.6. The Bilharzial antigen was used in 33 cases including 25 cases of Schistosomiasis, of which 19 gave a positive reaction.7. In 40 cases the Oncomelania antigen was used. This series included 32 cases of Schistosomiasis of which 23 gave a positive reaction and 3 a weak positive reaction.8. Negative results were obtained with 50 strongly positive Wasserman sera, and with 2 cases of infection with Fasciolopsis buski, and two cases of Clonorchis sinensis. Ascaris and hookworm infestations also gave negative results.

scholarly journals PROPERTIES OF THE TYPE SPECIFIC PROTEINS OF ANTIPNEUMOCOCCUS SERA

1937 ◽  
Vol 66 (4) ◽  
pp. 425-435 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth Goodner ◽  
Frank L. Horsfall
Keyword(s):  
Capsular Polysaccharide ◽  
Horse Serum ◽  
Total Content ◽  
Immune Serum ◽  
Rabbit Serum ◽  
Antibody Activity ◽  
Subsequent Paper ◽  
Type I ◽  
Protective Capacity ◽  
Precipitable Protein

The generally held view has been that in any immune serum only a single antibody would be induced by and react with a single antigen. Were this true the various manifestations of antibody activity should show a quantitative parallelism. It has already been shown (1), however, that with antipneumococcus horse serum the mouse protective potency does not parallel the maximum amount of specifically precipitable protein except within certain well defined groups of antisera. The simplest explanation of this situation is that different horses form antibodies differing in specific protective capacity, but from our studies it seems probable that in any immune serum there may occur a mixture of antibodies which, while directed against the same antigen, possess different protective capacities, different avidities, etc. It would now appear that this latter hypothesis is the more tenable since the experiments here reported indicate the existence of antibodies of various protective potencies in horse antisera. It would not be unreasonable to hold that the antibodies of a single serum represent a series of substances with varying properties. On the basis of the present immunological fractionation experiments, the following deductions seem permissible. 1. Antipneumococcus horse sera must contain at least three, possibly many, antibody substances which react with the capsular polysaccharide. These are: (a) A substance which precipitates upon the addition of a relatively small amount of polysaccharide. This antibody possesses a low protective potency. (b) A substance which is precipitated with intermediate amounts of polysaccharide and which possesses an extremely high protective value. (c) A third substance which is precipitated only with the addition of relatively large amounts of polysaccharide. The protective value of this antibody is very low It may represent a degraded form. 2. With antipneumococcus rabbit serum the situation is somewhat simpler. This is in accord with the fact that with Type I antipneumococcus sera from this species there is a direct proportionality between the amount of specifically precipitable protein and the protective potency of the serum (1). The results with antipneumococcus rabbit serum indicate the existence of at least two antibody substances: (a) An antibody with high protective value which makes up the greater proportion of the total content. (b) A second substance which is precipitated only upon the addition of relatively large amounts of capsular polysaccharide. The existence of this second antibody is not clearly demonstrated by the present findings but the lower protective ratios obtained as greater amounts of antibody are removed probably indicate its existence. This may also represent degraded material. The observations on the antibodies of both horse and rabbit antisera will be supported by experiments with immunochemical fractionation which will be reported in a subsequent paper.

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