The Antigenic Action of Cholesterol

[摘要] From seven of the ten rabbits inoculated with mixtures of cholesterol and swine serum, antisera were obtained which reacted to a definite degree with a suspension of cholesterol as antigen in the usual form of complement-fixation test.With special methods of comparative titration, these reactions differed from those of known specificity on the one hand and, on the other, appeared similar to the nonspecific reactions of normal serum. In the reactions of known specificity which have been studied, the amount of complement fixed was directly proportional to the amount of immune serum used, whereas, in the reaction of cholesterol and cholesterol antisera, it was not directly proportional—quite the contrary. Furthermore, reactions of known specificity were not appreciably affected when the concentration of serum constituents in the dilutions of serum tested was maintained constant by the use of normal serum instead of physiological salt solution as diluent, whereas, under similar conditions, the reactions with cholesterol that were observed when dilutions were made with salt solution did not develop when normal serum was substituted.

[学科分类] 生物科学（综合）