Abstract
(1) Passive antidextran dextran anaphylaxis was produced in guinea pigs challenged with B 512 dextran fractions or subfractions. By Sephadex separation of a weakly anaphylactogenic parent dextran fraction of weight average molecular weight (M<sub>w</sub>) 3,400 subfractions of widely varying M<sub>w</sub> and anaphylactogenicity were obtained. (2) The weakly anaphylactogenic parent fraction produced no mortality, whereas its most anaphylactogenic subfraction produced 80% mortality. Calculations showed, that the parent dextran fraction was composed of non- or weakly anaphylactogenic and strongly anaphylactogenic subfractions, occurring in a molar ratio of 3:1. (3) Built-in hapten inhibition was thus exerted within the parent dextran fraction by its low molecular weight subfractions, reducing the anaphylactogenicity of the higher molecular subfractions. Generally, the lower the average molecular weight of a homopolymer fraction, the more pronounced should be the effect of built-in inhibition. (4) It is proposed to designate this built-in hapten inhibition of fractions of dextran or other homopolymers as ‘inherent’ hapten inhibition, in contrast to that produced by adding low molecular, non-anaphylactogenic fractions to higher molecular, anaphylactogenic fractions upon challenge of sensitized animals.
Published Version
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