AGGLUTINATING AND NON-AGGLUTINATING ANTIBODIES IN RABBITS INOCULATED WITH A PARTICULATE ANTIGEN (SALMONELLA-TYPHIMURIUM)

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  • 1 January 1983
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 48  (2) , 351-359
Abstract
Agglutinating and nonagglutinating anti-S. typhimurium antibodies were specifically purified from the sera of immunized rabbits. Both types of antibody had the same electrophoretic mobility and were localized in the IgG fraction. It was not possible to find antigenic differences between agglutinating and nonagglutinating antibodies by immunodiffusion. Agglutinating antibody activated the complement system; nonagglutinating antibody lacked this capacity. Only the former increased clearance of antigen form the blood. When serum samples with different antibody titers determined by agglutination (agglutinating antibody) and Coombs test (nonagglutinating antibody) were injected in mice, clearance of antigen from the blood showed changes. These results were similar to those previously observed when different precipitating:coprecipitating antibody ratios were used and indicated that competition of both antibodies for the antigen depends on their respective amounts. When mice protection tests were set up by injection of agglutinating and nonagglutinating antibody before the inoculation of 10 LD50 S. typhimurium, nonagglutinating antibody was less effective than agglutinating antibody. Nonagglutinating antibody was detectable during the whole course of immunization. Its serum concentration was higher than that of the agglutinating antibody. Nonagglutinating antibody behaves in a similar way to coprecipitating antibody. The initially proposed hyothesis that such antibodies could interfere with immunity to certain chronic infections was extended to include the nonagglutinating antibodies demonstrated here.