Studies on the Precipitin Reaction: Precipitating Haptens; Species Differences in Antibodies

Studies on the Precipitin Reaction: Precipitating Haptens; Species Differences in Antibodies

Contributor(s):
Heidelberger, Michael
Kendall, Forrest E.
Journal of Experimental Medicine
Publication:
Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, March 1933
Language(s):
English
Format:
Text
Subject(s):
Antibodies
Antigen-Antibody Reactions
Precipitins
Haptens
Genre(s):
Archival Materials
Articles
Abstract:
After moving to Columbia University, Heidelberger turned his focus to studying the chemical nature of antibodies, mainly attempting to prove that they were proteins. As such, Heidelberger surmised that using polysaccharide antigens of pneumococcus that he had identified with Oswald T. Avery would be perfect experimental agents, for any nitrogen present in the precipitate would be a chemical constituent of the antibody (proteins contain nitrogen, pneumococcal polysaccharides do not). Unfortunately, the low molecular weight of pneumococcal haptens (small molecules, not antigenic by themselves, that can react with antibodies of appropriate specificity and elicit the formation of such antibodies when attached to a larger antigenic molecule, such as a polysaccharide or protein) made it difficult to find a serum in which to conduct experiments, as the rabbit serum that immunologists universally used at the time did not properly react to such small quantities of hapten. In this article, Kendall and Heidelberger proposed that horse serum might be more suitable because horses appeared to form antibodies in reaction to type III pneumococcal haptens even when the haptens were present in minute quantities.
Copyright:
This item may be under copyright protection; contact the copyright owner for permission before re-use.
Extent:
7 pages
NLM Unique ID:
101584940X13 (See in Profiles in Science)
Profiles in Science ID:
DHBBBQ
Permanent Link:
http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101584940X13
Archival Collection:
The Michael Heidelberger Papers (Profiles in Science)