Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 May 2009
Attempts to demonstrate reversed passive anaphylaxis in the guinea-pig with crystalline egg albumin as sensitizing antigen have been uniformly negative.
When purified anti-pneumococcal antibody globulin was used as sensitizing antigen, reversed anaphylactic shock could be elicited in guinea-pigs by the intravenous injection of precipitins for the antibody globulin.
The mild reactions which could be elicited when the total globulins from the serum of normal rabbits were used as sensitizing antigen are probably dependent on the presence of small amounts of y globulin.
Reversed passive anaphylaxis, like direct anaphylaxis, is dependent on a cellular mechanism, and the success of experiments in which rabbit antibody globulin was used as sensitizing antigen depends on the acceptability of the antibody to the cells of the guinea-pig's tissues.
Antigenic differences between antibody globulins and total normal globulins from rabbit serum are noted.