The Journal of Experimental Medicine, Vol 115, 453-466,
Copyright, 1962, by The Rockefeller Institute
THE CHEMOTACTIC EFFECT OF MIXTURES OF ANTIBODY AND ANTIGEN ON POLYMORPHONUCLEAR LEUCOCYTES
Stephen Boyden Ph.D.1
1 From the Department of Experimental Pathology, John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University, Canberra
An in vitro technique is described for assessing the chemotactic activity of soluble substances on motile cells.
Antibody-antigen mixtures when incubated (37°C) in medium containing fresh (i.e. non-inactivated) normal rabbit serum exert a strong chemotactic effect on rabbit polymorphonuclear leucocytes.
Results are described which indicate that, when antibody-antigen complexes are incubated (37°C) in fresh serum, a heat-stable (56°C) substance (or substances) is produced which acts directly as a chemotactic stimulus on the polymorphs. This heat-stable chemotactic substance is not produced when antibody-antigen complexes are incubated in serum which has been heated at 56°C for 30 minutes.
Submitted on August 21, 1961