Observations on the Nature of the Antigen in Tanned Red Cell Hemagglutination

Abstract

Egg albumin treated with 6 M urea has been shown to coat sheep red blood cells in such a way as to render them susceptible to hemagglutination by anti-egg albumin sera. Untreated egg albumin appears to do so poorly or not at all. It is suggested that the increased effectiveness of urea-treated egg albumin solutions to coat tanned cells effectively is related to partial denaturation of a portion of the egg albumin molecules, and it is emphasized that other proteins may behave similarly to egg albumin in this respect. A limitation in using precipitin techniques for defining the specificities of hemagglutination reactions has been discussed.