Immunological Studies on Adrenal Glands

Abstract

Rabbits injected with a bovine adrenal suspension incorporated into Freund adjuvants produced antibodies reacting in a variety of serological tests with extracts of bovine adrenals as well as with extracts of other bovine organs. The double diffusion gel precipitation procedure and absorption experiments revealed that part of these antibodies were specific for adrenal only. In immunoelectrophoretic analysis the adrenal-specific reaction appeared as a line on the anodal part of the electrophoretic field. When extraction was performed at 100° and the extracts autoclaved at 120°, the adrenal-specific antigen remained unaltered, whereas all but one of the non-adrenal-specific antigens (i.e. antigens shared by other bovine organs) were destroyed. The adrenal-specific antigen was localized predominantly, if not exclusively, in the medulla. A similar or identical antigen was found in the adrenals of sheep but not in those of any other species tested. The adrenal-specific antigen was precipitated by ethanol at 72 per cent concentration; it was not destroyed by 90 per cent phenol extraction. Re-dissolved ethanol precipitate of boiled bovine adrenal extract incorporated into Freund adjuvants elicited production of adrenal-specific antibodies when injected into rabbits.

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