Title:

Quantitative Studies on the Precipitin Reaction: Antibody Production in Rabbits Injected with an Azo Protein

Creator:

Heidelberger, Michael
Kendall, Forrest E.
Soo Hoo, Check M.

Date:

August 1933

Description:

Throughout the 1930s, Heidelberger and Kendall continued to provide chemical proof that antibodies were protein by measuring the amount of nitrogen in precipitates from reactions between antibodies and protein or polysaccharide antigens. John R. Marrack, a British immunologist, had been critical of this work, maintaining that Heidelberger assumed that the reaction had reached equilibrium and that only two antigen-antibody complexes were being formed, when in fact there might have been more. Heidelberger's response, documented in this article, was to use a purplish-red diazo dye that chemically attached to the protein antigen used, here the protein egg albumin. Heidelberger and Kendall purified antibody-antigen precipitates produced by the precipitin reaction then subtracted the quantity of colored nitrogen (derived from the egg albumin antigen) from the total amount of nitrogen. The remainder was the amount of nitrogen contributed by the antibody. Because almost all proteins contain nitrogen, Heidelberger and Kendall thus concluded that antibodies were proteins. Moreover, they had developed a technique that for the first time allowed measurement of antibody nitrogen in units of absolute weight and, with it, of the amount of antibodies present.

Periodical:

Journal of Experimental Medicine

Publisher:

Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research

Rights:

Reproduced from the Journal of Experimental Medicine, 1933, 58, 137-152 by copyright permission of the Rockefeller University Press.

Genre:

Articles

Subject:

Antigen-Antibody Reactions, Proteins, and Precipitins

Format:

Text

Extent:

16 pages

Language:

English

Legacy Source Citation:

Periodical. Heidelberger, Michael, Forrest E. Kendall, and Check M. Soo Hoo. "Quantitative Studies on the Precipitin Reaction: Antibody Production in Rabbits Injected with an Azo Protein." Journal of Experimental Medicine 58, 2 (August 1933): 137-152. Article. 16 Images.. Journal of Experimental Medicine

Legacy ID:

DHBBBR

NLM ID:

101584940X14

Profiles Collection:

The Michael Heidelberger Papers

Shareable Link:

https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/101584940X14

Story Section:

Antigens and Antibodies: Heidelberger and The Rise of Quantitative Immunochemistry, 1928-1954