The Antigenic Properties of Bacteria Combined with Antibodies

[摘要] According to the side-chain theory the receptor which combines with antibody in vitro and the specific component of the antigen which develops antibody in vivo are identical. According to this hypothesis one should expect that when the receptors of an antigen are saturated with antibody the treated antigen will be deprived of its capacity to develop specific antibodies. The first experiments in this direction were undertaken in 1901 by Pfeiffer with V. cholera and B. typhosus , Neisser and Lubowski with B. typhosus and Sachs with sensitized erythrocytes. The fundamental experiments of these authors showed that by sensitization the antigenic power of an antigen is frequently much diminished but not completely destroyed and this may be attributed either to the fact that it is impossible in the test tube to saturate the receptor of the antigen completely, or to the occurrence of a certain amount of dissociation of antibody from the receptors after the mixture had been injected.

[学科分类] 生物科学（综合）