Immune sera in the study of food antigens: II. Crustaceans

Abstract

1. 1. Sera from specifically immunized rabbits were employed in agar-gel diffusion precipitin tests in the qualitative antigenic analyses of crustacean extracts. 2. 2. Multiple antigenic components (4–9) were demonstrated in the edible abdominal muscles of lobster, crab, shrimp, lobster tail, and fresh-water crayfish and in the bodies of entomostracans (“insect type” crustaceans), daphnia and brine shrimp. 3. 3. Only a partial degree of qualitative cross-antigenicity was noted among various taxonomically related edible shellfish, and an antigen common to all five could not be demonstrated. 4. 4. Partial qualitative cross-antigenicity was noted among taxonomically related entomostracans (“insect-type” crustaceans), Artemia salina (brine shrimp) and Daphnia pulex (water fleas). Some antigenic components of brine shrimp were common to those of the edible malacostracans (shellfish), whereas daphnia contained antigen common only to ecologically related freshwater crayfish. 5. 5. A wide qualitative variation among individual component antigens of crustaceans was demonstrated in homologous species skin-testing extracts of different laboratory sources.