Natural hemolytic activity of snake serum. II. Heterogeneity of putative natural antibody and levels of hemolytic activity.
The erythrocytes of various vertebrates, such as mice, rabbits, sheep, chickens, bullfrogs, and toads are lysed by normal snake sera. However, snake erythrocytes were not lysed by serum from different snake species. Putative natural antibody seems with different specificities to comprise heterogeneous antibodies. Thus, absorption of snake serum with mouse erythrocytes, for example, abrogated hemolytic activity for mice but not for rabbit or sheep erythrocytes. We observed no significant intraspecies individual differences in serum hemolytic titer, but interspecies differences were obvious. Immunization of snakes with sheep erythrocytes caused no further elevation of hemolytic activity, though high titer antibody was produced in response to certain bacterial antigens. Even the sera of newly-hatched snakes showed hemolytic activity at modestly high levels. No seasonal change in hemolytic activity was observed.
D000042:Absorption; D000373:Agglutinins; D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D000906:Antibodies; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D001001:Anura; D002645:Chickens; D006461:Hemolysis; D007114:Immunization; D051379:Mice; D011817:Rabbits; D011892:Rana catesbeiana; D012621:Seasons; D012756:Sheep; D012911:Snakes
D000373:Agglutinins; D000906:Antibodies; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial