Immune sera : a concise exposition of our present knowledge concerning the constitution and mode of action of antitoxins, agglutinins, hæmolysins, bacteriolysins, precipitins, cytotoxins, and opsonins / by Dr. Charles Frederick Bolduan.

  • Bolduan, Charles, 1873-1950.
Date:
1908
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Immune sera : a concise exposition of our present knowledge concerning the constitution and mode of action of antitoxins, agglutinins, hæmolysins, bacteriolysins, precipitins, cytotoxins, and opsonins / by Dr. Charles Frederick Bolduan. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    entering into a firm combination, i.e. without being assimilated, and is therefore no food. Its sweeten- ing action is a mere contact effect on the cells sensitive to taste. Sugar, on the contrary, is actually bound by the cells, assimilated and burnt, and so is a true food. Until recently it was believed that the simpler chemical substances could not excite the production of antibodies. Ford and Abel ‘ have however been able to show that toad stool poison, a true toxin, against which an anti- toxin can be produced is chemically a glucoside. ^ As we shall subsequently see it is possible to immunize the animal body against a large number of substances, including not only such cell products i ' as ferments, toxins and venoms, but also cells of I the greatest variety, bacteria, dissolved j)roteids, etc. All these substances, therefore, must possess hapto- phore groups able to combine with the side chains or receptors in the animal body. Collectively, we speak of such substances as antigens or haptins. Nature of Antitoxins in General. — But little is known concerning the constitution of antitoxins, for we do not know them apart from serum oi' serum constituents. It seems probable that they are proteid in character, but this has not been positively decided. It has been found that like the globulins they are quite resistant to the action of trypsin, but are acted on by pepsin-hydrochloric ’ Ford and Abel. Journal of Biological Chemistry, Vol. ii, 1907.