[Use of an immunothermistographic method for detecting humoral antibodies in the allotransplantation of skin and cornea in rabbits].

Humoral antibodies were investigated by the method of immunothermistography in 43 rabbits after allotransplantation of the skin and cornea. The method of immunothermistography is based on the changes in thermoconduction of the medium as a result of the antigen-antibody reaction. The antibodies were discovered in the blood serum 3 to 5 days after the skin transplantation. The antibody titre gradually increased. Retransplantation of the skin at first decreased the concentration of antibodies, but the antibody titre rose in 8-12 days. In most of the animals the antibodies disappeared in 2-3 months. The same data were obtained in transplantation of the cornea. A correlation between thermistography data and Hougher's reaction and also the dynamics of the complement titre was found. The method of immunothermistography aids in discovery of the humoral tissue antibodies at the early period of the rejection reaction; it is highly sensitive and simple.