Abstract
With a view of obtaining an antihuman hemolytic amboceptor on a large scale, I immunized a goat with thoroughly washed human corpuscles. I obtained a serum of a titre of 0.01 cubic centimeter, that is, capable of complete hemolysis with I cubic centimeter of a one per cent, suspension of washed human corpuscles in the presence of 0.01 cubic centimeter of normal goat's or guinea-pig's serum. The reactivating property of normal goat's serum for this ambocepter was found to be somewhat superior to that of guinea-pig's complement. As it would be of great economical value for complement fixation tests to utilize an amboceptor and complement from such a large animal as a goat, instead of using an amboceptor from rabbits and complement from guinea-pigs, I tested the amboceptor and complement from goats as to the possibility of using them in complement fixation tests in general. It was soon found that no complement-fixation phenomenon can be obtained by using them (antihuman amboceptor from this immune goat and complement from a normal goat) in connection with the following antigen-antibody combinations: (1) meningococcus-antimeningococcus serum of Flexner (horse), (2) human-antihuman serum (rabbit), (3) egg-albumen-antiegg-albumen (rabbit), and finally (4) “syphilitic antigen”. — syphilitic serum (or Wassermann reaction). With the combinations of (1), (2) and (3), precipitates were first produced, then washed in saline solution by centrifugation, and finally, before use were resuspended in saline solution. That these different precipitates as well as the syphilitic serum with “syphilitic antigen” were not inactive was easily demonstrated by using another hemolytic system. Thus, when the antihuman amboceptor derived from rabbit and complement from guinea-pig or even from goat were used there was complete fixation in each instance.
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