Structural Characteristics of Hemolytic Antibodies As Determined by the Effects of Ionizing Radiation

Abstract

Some structural characteristics of rabbit IgG and IgM hemolytic antibodies have been deduced by target theory analysis of the relationship between the dose of ionizing radiation and the inactivation of the molecule. The destruction of a single target with a molecular weight of 52,000 in the IgG molecule is sufficient to destroy the hemolytic activity. Our data are consistent with a model of the IgM molecule containing more than three subunits each of molecular weight 1.6 to 1.8 × 10⁵. In this model, each subunit is capable of combining with antigen and two adjacent subunits are required for the fixation of C′ and for hemolytic activity.