The Effect of Dilution on the Reaction Between Pneumococcus and Its Specific Antibody

[摘要] In a previous publication (1) it was shown that mixtures of pneumococcus type I and its specific antibody may be prepared which upon dilution fail to infect mice. The dilution was extensive enough to permit the conclusion that the antibody present could not account for the results, unless such antibody were firmly bound to the pneumococcus during its exposure to the more concentrated serum in the original mixture. It was also shown that the observations were not attributable to aggregation of the pneumococci in the concentrated mixtures. These results, therefore, bring evidence for the existence of a firm union of pneumococci and antipneumococcal antibody which is not affected by dilution.On the other hand, Enders and Shaffer (2) have observed that neutral mixtures of pneumococcus type III and its specific antibody become infectious on dilution.

[学科分类] 生物科学（综合）