Separation of an Antigenic Fraction from Rat Liver Responsible for the Formation of Liver Localizing Antibodies

Abstract

Past investigations have shown differences in the vascular beds of various organs such as liver, kidney and lung (1). This was shown by the fact that antibodies could be prepared in rabbits which, when injected into rats or mice, showed preferential localization in the organ against which the antibody had been prepared. Fixation in vivo of tissue-localizing antibodies has been shown to take place on the vascular bed of the organ (2). By various purification processes, it has been possible to separate antibodies which show an increased preferential localization in a particular organ. However, even the purified preparations contained very appreciable amounts of cross-localizing antibodies, i.e., antibodies localizing in various organs other than the one against which the antiserum had been made. For example, liver-localizing activity from anti-liver preparations could be very effectively purified by in vivo and in vitro means, but an appreciable amount of kidney-localizing activity always remained (3).