The influence of protein concentration upon the absorption of antibodies from the subcutaneous tissues

Abstract

The experiments so far completed indicate that the concentration of protein up to double its normal amount in an antitoxic or agglutinating serum or globulin solution has but little influence upon the absorption of the contained antitoxin or agglutinin from the subcutaneous tissues of man or animals unless the increased concentration of protein together with other substances gives rise to a greater local inflammatory reaction. The absorption of agglutinin was markedly less in a number of rabbits in which the subcutaneous injections of the high proteid solutions were followed by infiltration and necrosis of the adjacent tissues. The high proteid concentration did not appreciably lessen the amount or rapidity of absorption, when no such reaction in the tissues took place. Contrary to the conclusion of Walbum the results obtained in four healthy men did not show any appreciable difference in absorption of antitoxin from an antitoxic globulin solution, the proteid concentration of which was equal to that of normal horse serum and one in which the concentration was double that amount.