THE RELATION BETWEEN ANTIANAPHYLAXIS AND ANTIBODY BALANCE : I. THE RÔLE OF EXCESS OF CIRCULATING ANTIBODY IN HYPERSENSITIVENESS

1. Sensitized guinea pigs injected with normal rabbit or guinea pig serum previous to intravenous inoculation of antigen may be protected against a few lethal doses of antigen. The protection is greater with foreign than with homologous serum and appears to be related roughly to the amount of serum introduced. 2. Sensitized guinea pigs injected with antibody-containing serum preliminary to intravenous injection of antigen, show no greater refractoriness to anaphylaxis than do those injected with normal serum. 3. Moreover, in many instances, the injection of an excess of antibody into the circulation of sensitized guinea pigs, leads to an increased susceptibility of these animals to anaphylaxis. 4. These results indicate that an excess of circulating antibody is not responsible for a state of antianaphylaxis, but on the contrary, may contribute toward the anaphylactic reaction itself.