Demonstration of human reagin in the monkey: I. Passive sensitization of monkey skin with sera of untreated atopic patients

Abstract

The technique of passive sensitization of the skin of monkeys is a convenient and reproducible method for the demonstration of skin-sensitizing antibodies. Intravenous challenge with a mixture of antigen and Evans blue dye proved to be technically easier and as reliable as administration of dye followed by antigen. The intravenous administration of antigen generally proved to be superior to the direct intradermal injection with antigen. Heating of the sera from untreated ragweed-sensitive patients at 56° C. for 2 hours completely destroyed the reaginic activity as demonstrated by passive transfer in the monkey and human skin, while the hemagglutination titers were not changed by heating. Separation of reaginic sera by ultracentrifugation with the sucrose gradient method suggests that the skin-sensitizing antibody is not a macroglobulin. This technique for demonstrating skin-sensitizing antibodies in the monkey skin avoids many problems inherent in the classical Prausnitz-Ku¨stner method, including the hazard of transmitting serum hepatitis. It has potential value in evaluating human skin-sensitizing antibody and in the standardization of allergens.