Distribution of Immune Agglutinins in the Serum and Organs of Rabbits

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to ascertain by a direct method the eventual accumulation of antibodies in the organs of rabbits which had received injections of rabbit blood containing agglutinins. The presence of antibodies in the tissues of animals injected with homologous serum containing anaphylactic antibodies or precipitins seemed probable, (1) as an explanation of the incubation period of anaphylaxis, (2) on the ground of the observation that anaphylaxis once developed is independent of the circulating antibodies. Furthermore, it was assumed that during the time of contact of antibodies with the tissue, the relation of the two changes; after the antibodies have been in contact with the tissue for a period, they become fixed to the tissue. ¹ We have attempted to obtain direct evidence for this assumption by means of perfusion experiments. In their investigation concerning the site of antibody formation, Pfeiffer and Marx (1), as early as 1898, demonstrated by recovery the presence of antibodies in the spleen.