ON THE USE OF ADSORBENTS IN IMMUNIZATIONS WITH HAPTENS

Experiments are described which confirm the observation of Gonzalez and Armangué that heterogenetic extracts can be made antigenic by adsorption to inorganic materials. With fractions of the original extracts from which a part of inactive material had been removed no such enhancement was observed, whereas with foreign protein an activation was still possible. Carbohydrate preparations behaved similarly in that purification, perhaps loss of protein, was accompanied by a distinct decrease in antigenicity after adsorption. The activity of a but slightly antigenic heteroalbumose preparation was markedly increased after adsorption to charcoal and alum. The most reasonable explanation for the effects observed by Gonzalez and Armangué, and Zozaya, seems to be that a preexisting antigenic capacity has been enhanced by the use of adsorbents. The experiments reported here support the view that these effects are influenced significantly by the presence of substances other than those of a specific nature.