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The Time Factor in Solubility of Precipitates in Excess of Antigen

From the Evans Memorial, Massachusetts Memorial Hospitals, and Boston University School of Medicine

Abstract

A number of workers have postulated an increasing firmness of union between antigen and antibody with the passage of time (cf. 13, 3). Burnet (2) found that the compound of staphylococcal toxin or toxoid with antitoxin became irreversible within five minutes, in the sense that addition of toxoid, for example, after that time no longer set any toxin free. In some cases the evidence for increasing firmness of union seems convincing; in others, as in the case of the experiments of Martin and Cherry (10), it is possible to think of other explanations for the results obtained (cf. 14).

Well founded or not, the conclusions based on such experiments have probably influenced opinion in regard to a similar but independent question, viz., the solubility of specific precipitates in excess antigen. It is well known that sufficient excess of antigen mixed with the specific antiserum will in practially all cases prevent precipitation ("inhibition zone").