Rapid Production and Detection of Insulin-Binding Antibodies in Rabbits and Guinea Pigs

Abstract

Summary

Rabbits and guinea pigs were immunized with untreated crystalline beef and pork insulin in modified Freund adjuvant. Disappearance of insulin-I¹³¹ from subcutaneous sites of injection was markedly reduced by the adjuvant. Fourteen of 17 guinea pigs and all 5 rabbits survived otherwise lethal doses of insulin. Insulin-binding antibodies were produced within 11-36 days in all rabbits and within 10-63 days in all surviving guinea pigs. Insulin-antibody complexes in rabbit plasma migrate with γ globulins and in guinea pig plasma with fibrinogen, on paper electrophoresis. Total insulin-binding capacities of antisera ranged from less than 10 to 5000 mμg/ml in guinea pigs and from 14 to 550 mμg/ml serum in rabbits.