Abstract
Summary
It was shown by a latex agglutination technique that rats, following thermal injury, are stimulated to produce antibodies to the acid-extractable fraction of collagen in skin. These antibodies do not agglutinate particles coated with the salt-extractable collagen but can be absorbed by this precursor of acid-extractable mature collagen. The anticollagen antibody in rats also reacts with bovine gelatin. An antibody-containing fraction of serum from burned rats was isolated by gel filtration and appears to be a 16.5 S20 macroglobulin by ultracentrifugation and is inactivated by mercaptane reduction. Antibodies to rat collagen and bovine gelatin were also demonstrated in the serum of normal humans. In burned humans the agglutinins disappeared following an extensive burn, presumably by reaction with circulating antigen, and reappeared during convalescence.
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