Attempts to Sensitize Mice for PCA Using Pepsin Digested Mouse Antibody Fragments

[摘要] Treatment of γG immunoglobulin with pepsin removes a portion of the molecule analogous to the Fc fragment leaving the F(ab′)2 fragment which has a sedimentation constant of approximately 5S (1). The biologic activity associated with F(ab′)2 fragments appears to vary with the species source of the antibody fragments and the test systems employed. For example, rabbit 5S F(ab′)2 antibody fragments, although incapable of sensitizing guinea pig skin for passive cutaneous anaphylaxis (PCA) (2), are capable of provoking PCA in the mouse (3). Additionally, F(ab′)2 obtained from rabbits and guinea pigs suppresses the development of the primary immune response in rabbits (4) and guinea pigs (5), respectively, whereas mouse F(ab′)2 is incapable of suppressing the primary immune response in mice (6). The purpose of this report is to describe experiments which demonstrate that while mouse F(ab′)2 preparations do not provoke PCA in the mouse, they specifically inhibit PCA induced by intact mouse antibody.

[学科分类] 生物科学（综合）