STUDIES ON THE OXIDATION AND REDUCTION OF IMMUNOLOGICAL SUBSTANCES

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Abstract
The investigation deals with the immunological differentiation of the hemotoxin and the "protein fraction" of Pneumococcus, and with a like differentiation of the antihemotoxin and the antiprotein precipitins. The distinction is made upon the basis of the following evidence: (1) The antigenic (antibody-invoking and antibody-combining) properties of the hemotoxin were destroyed by heat and oxidation treatments which did not cause the loss of the antigenic effectiveness of the "protein fraction." (2) The removal of the hemotoxin from pneumococcus solutions by combination with erythrocytes caused no loss in the capacity of the solution to invoke the production of antiprotein precipitins nor in its capacity to react with antiprotein immune serum. Titrations of the antihemotoxin content of antipneumococcus horse serum (both diagnostic and therapeutic) indicated that the heating treatment of the immunization material is the most important factor in determining the antihemotoxin content of the immune sera obtained from horses, as well as of that from rabbits. A distinction was also made between the hemotoxin and the toxic substances ("endotoxin") which cause the acute anaphylactoid death of rabbits.

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