THE CHARACTERIZATION OF ANTIBODIES TO PENICILLIN*

Abstract

Penicillin, when mixed with serum proteins, forms an antigen capable of reacting with serum from rabbits sensitized with penicillin, as shown by the passive cutaneous anaphylaxis and agar gel diffusion techniques. The antibody capable of directly agglutinating penicillinated red cells is a 19S gamma-globulin, while the skin-sensitizing antibody is a 7S gamma-globulin. These 2 antibodies are also electrophoretically separable. Two lines are noted when rabbit immune sera are reacted with the penicillin-protein complex in a double diffusion system. Abolition of one of these lines by treatment of the sera with mercaptoethanol demonstrates that one line is formed with a 19S antibody and the other with a 7S antibody.