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The Immunochemistry of Allergens

IV. Effect of Dilute Acid on Anaphylactogenic Activity, Specificity, and Reagin-Neutralization Capacity of Cottonseed Allergenic Fractions^1,2,

Abstract

The effect of boiling N/10 HCl on antigenic properties and reagin-neutralization capacity of the electrophoretic fractionation products of the cottonseed-allergenic fraction, CS-1A, was investigated. These acid-treated fractions were previously found to be unaltered in activity when compared by cutaeous tests on cottonseed-sensitive patients. On the basis of nitrogen content, fraction CS-51R lost 54 per cent of its original capacity to elicit anaphylactic shock in sensitized animals and lost 78 per cent of its capacity to induce sensitization. Fraction CS-56 lost 66 per cent of its shocking potency and 97 per cent of its sensitizing capacity.

The specificity of the cathodic fraction CS-51R, as determined by the Dale test, was unaltered by the acid treatment. The anodic fraction, CS-56, acquired a slightly altered specificity although the original specificity was predominant.

The in vitro reagin-neutralization potency of the acid-treated fraction, CS-51RH, was diminished by more than 95 per cent.

The differences in the degree of destruction of antigenic activity, as measured by ability to shock sensitive animals on the one hand and to induce sensitization on the other, were presumed to indicate that antigenic structural features required to sensitize are not identical with those required to shock. Similarily, structural features required to elicit specific cutaneous reactions in allergic individuals are different from those required to neutralize reagins.

Footnotes

¹ Contribution from Allergen Investigations, Bureau of Agricultural and Industrial Chemistry, Agricultural Research Administration, U. S. Department of Agriculture.

² For Paper III of this series see Coulson and Spies, This Journal, 46: 367–376.