Title:

Lab notes on complement fixation experiments

Creator:

Heidelberger, Michael

Date:

[October-November 1940]

Description:

These notes document Heidelberger's experiments on complement fixation during a critical period of research through which Heidelberger showed that complement, until then a poorly understood component of antibodies, consisted of a group of specific chemical substances, most likely protein. At the time, the term referred to the heat-sensitive factors in serum that trigger cytolysis, the dissolution of antibody-coated cells. Today, complement is understood as a functionally related system of at least twenty different serum proteins that play a key enzymatic role not just in cytolysis, but in other immune responses, including phagocytosis, the engulfing of foreign matter by immune cells, and anaphylaxis, a form of hypersensitivity reaction to a specific antigen with often life-threatening consequences. Heidelberger described the methods and results of these experiments in two articles on complement published in 1941.

Location:

Box: 15. Folder: 1

Rights:

Public Domain

Genre:

Laboratory notes

Subject:

Complement System Proteins

Format:

Text

Extent:

9 pages

Relation:

Quantitative Chemical Studies on Complement or Alexin: I. A Method, 1941
Quantitative Chemical Studies on Complement or Alexin: II. The Interrelation of Complement with Antigen-Antibody Compounds and with Sensitized Red Cells, 1941

Language:

English

Legacy ID:

DHBBLR

NLM ID:

101584940X176

Profiles Collection:

The Michael Heidelberger Papers

Shareable Link:

https://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/101584940X176

Story Section:

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