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The Effect of Temperature Upon Combination and Aggregation and Upon Equilibrium in the Reaction Between Antigen and Antibody

Evans Memorial Hospital, Massachusetts Memorial Hospitals, Boston

Abstract

According to a current theory, reaction between antigen and antibody occurs in two stages. It is thought that specific combination takes place during the first stage and is followed by the secondary reaction of aggregation, considered specific by some investigators and non-specific by others. The second stage has been more thoroughly studied than the first. There are, in fact, few systems in which combination can be easily studied apart from aggregation; consequently we know little about the relationship between the two stages, whether the reactions proceed at the same rate and are similarly affected by such factors as temperature and concentration. The reaction between diphtheric toxin and antitoxin is one in which both combination and aggregation can be investigated. Glenny (14) has said of this system "... the appearance of visible flocculation may not be a simple function of the rate of preliminary combination of toxin with antitoxin, presumed to be loose, and this may bear no simple relation to the rate of ultimate combination, which is assumed to be of a firmer nature."