HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Ogata, T. Articles by Yamaoka, S. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Ogata, T. Articles by Yamaoka, S.

Quantitative Studies on the Antigen-Antibody Reaction by the Monolayer Technique

I. Number and Distribution of Haptenic Groups in Antigens and Thickness of Adsorbed Antibody Layer¹

From the Department of Serology, School of Medicine and The Chemical Laboratory, Faculty of Science, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

Abstract

1. By the monolayer technique the relationship between the number of haptenic groups in azoproteins and the number of antibody molelules combined was quantitatively observed.

2. The optical thickness of the antibody layer specifically attached to a monolayer film of atoxyl-azo-ovalbumin increases in linear relation to the increase in the number of haptenic atoxyl groups, until it reaches a "saturation" point with an antigen containing about 30 haptenic groups, and thereafter the thickness remains unchanged, even if the number of determinant groups is increased over 30.

3. Quantitative observations were made with monolayer films of mixtures of azoprotein (containing a certain number of haptenic groups) and native ovalbumin in various proportions. The thickness of the antibody layer decreased proportionally with the decrease in the average number of haptenic groups per unit area in the mixture films (hetero-monolayers), approximately corresponding to the thickness of the antibody layer obtained with homogeneous film (homomonolayer) containing the same number of haptenic groups per molecule.

4. In multilayer films the thickness of the antibody layer increased proportionally with the number of layers each containing the same number of haptenic groups. The ratio of increase in the thickness of the antibody layer is in complete accord with that in the case of a single monolayer experiment.

5. From the experimental results described in this paper the significance of the thickness of the antibody layer in a monolayer technique was made clear in that it indicates the average density of antibodies adsorbed on an antigen monolayer film.

6. The structural arrangements of the haptenic groups in the monolayer film and of the antibodies on the antigen film were discussed in terms of molecular orientation.

Footnotes

¹ Preliminary reports of this work were partly presented at the Annual Session of the Chemical Society of Japan, Tokyo, April 1949 and at the Annual Meetings of the Bacteriological Society of Japan, Kanazawa, May 1949, and Tokyo, April 1951.