Division of Bacteriology of the Department of Medicine, Stanford University, California.
J Exp Med. 1913 Sep 1;18(3):219-27. doi: 10.1084/jem.18.3.219.
The experiments here recorded, as well as those preceding them and outlined in the introductory paragraphs, have had the purpose of analyzing the phenomenon of alexin fixation occurring when dissolved, unformed proteins are added to their specific antisera. The present experiments have shown that specific precipitates have the same relation to the complement fractions first described by Ferrata that are possessed by sensitized cells. In this they differ from indifferent suspensions, like kaolin, which fix alexin and its fractions indiscriminately, fixing the end-piece without dependence upon previous adsorption of the mid-piece. The writer believes this to be of theoretical importance since it seems to show, in the first place, that the fixation of alexin by precipitates is not merely a mechanical adsorption, and in that it renders more likely the supposition that the so called precipitin is actually a protein sensitizer by which a foreign protein is rendered amenable to the proteolytic action of the alexin. The visible precipitation in such reactions is merely secondary, occurring because of the colloidal nature of the reacting bodies, under conditions of quantitative proportions and environment which favor flocculation. It does not seem necessary to assume a structure for the so called precipitins essentially different from that of other sensitizers. Carried to its logical consequences, the acceptance of this view, taking the identity of agglutinins and precipitins at least as a possibility, leads to the conception that functionally there is but one variety of specific antibodies, and that is the sensitizer which makes possible the action of alexin or complement upon various antigens.
本实验记录以及之前的实验和引言中概述的实验，旨在分析当溶解的未成型蛋白质被添加到其特定抗血清中时发生的抗毒素固定现象。目前的实验表明，特定的沉淀物与 Ferrata 首先描述的补体片段具有相同的关系，这些片段被致敏细胞所拥有。在这方面，它们与无反应性悬浮液（如高岭土）不同，高岭土可以无差别地固定抗毒素及其片段，而无需先吸附中间片段即可固定末端片段。作者认为这具有理论重要性，因为它似乎首先表明，沉淀物对抗毒素的固定不仅仅是一种机械吸附，并且它更有可能假设所谓的沉淀素实际上是一种蛋白质敏化剂，通过该敏化剂，外国蛋白质变得易于抗毒素的蛋白水解作用。在这种反应中可见的沉淀仅是次要的，由于反应体的胶体性质，在有利于絮凝的定量比例和环境条件下发生。似乎没有必要假设所谓沉淀素的结构与其他敏化剂的结构本质上不同。如果将这种观点推至逻辑结论，那么至少接受凝集素和沉淀素的同一性是一种可能性，这将导致一种概念，即从功能上讲，只有一种特异性抗体，即敏化剂，它使抗毒素或补体对各种抗原的作用成为可能。
