THEORETICAL APPROACH TO PRECIPITIN REACTIONS - INSIGHT FROM COMPUTER-SIMULATION

  • 1 January 1979
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 36  (2) , 279-291
Abstract
The theoretical consequences of different hypotheses of the mechanism of precipitin reactions were evaluated by means of computer simulation. The formation of compositionally different complexes in different antigen[Ag]/antibody mixtures provides a valid explanation of the zoning phenomenon, but this concept fails to explain the absence of free Ag and of Ag in soluble complexes at the point of maximum precipitation. In the 1st stage of the total reaction a series of compositionally different complexes may be formed. At the 2nd stage of the total reaction 2 kinds of processes are proposed. Inherently insoluble complexes precipitate causing the remaining soluble complexes to participate in mutual rearrangements to re-establish a new state of equilibrium in the supernatant. The inherently insoluble complexes create a hydrophobic phase, distinct from the supernatant and cause the remaining otherwise soluble complexes to distribute themselves between the 2 phases according to a partition coefficient. A mathematical apparatus to study the consequences of this hypothesis is presented, and the features of precipitin curves can be explained nearly completely this way.