[Immunochemical characteristics of plant pollen allergoid]

Allergen from ragweed pollen was treated with formaldehyde to obtain allergoid. The preparation obtained loses to a significant extent its ability to react not only with allergic antibodies (reagins) of the patients but also with precipitins of sera from rabbits hyperimmunized with allergen. Immunoelectrophoresis in agarose allowed a conclusion that formaldehyde blocks up to 4--5 antigens possessing a higher positive electrophoretic charge. Electrophoresis in polyacrylamide gel has shown that concurrently there occur stabilization and enlargement of protein molecules.