STUDIES ON PHAGOCYTOSIS .3. ANTIGEN CLEARANCE STUDIES IN INVERTEBRATES AND POIKILOTHERMIC VERTEBRATES

  • 1 January 1968
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 14  (3) , 347-+
Abstract
The clearance of a secondary dose of T1 bacteriophage from the circulation of the goldfish, lamprey and shore crab was more rapid than the clearance of a primary dose of phage. The phenomenon occurs in the absence of any detectable humoral antibody and appears similar to that previously described in rabbits. The effect could not be demonstrated in the dogfish or land snail and it appears possible that some form of immunological paralysis or blockage occurred in these animals. The results suggest that a phylogenetically more primitive immune response than the production of humoral antibody may exist in the animal kingdom.