Lab notes on complement fixation experiments
- Contributor(s):
- Heidelberger, Michael
- Publication:
- Produced: [October-November 1940]
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Complement System Proteins
- Genre(s):
- Archival Materials Laboratory notes
- Abstract:
- These notes document Heidelberger's experiments on complement fixation during a critical period of research through which Heidelberger showed that complement, until then a poorly understood component of antibodies, consisted of a group of specific chemical substances, most likely protein. At the time, the term referred to the heat-sensitive factors in serum that trigger cytolysis, the dissolution of antibody-coated cells. Today, complement is understood as a functionally related system of at least twenty different serum proteins that play a key enzymatic role not just in cytolysis, but in other immune responses, including phagocytosis, the engulfing of foreign matter by immune cells, and anaphylaxis, a form of hypersensitivity reaction to a specific antigen with often life-threatening consequences. Heidelberger described the methods and results of these experiments in two articles on complement published in 1941.
- Copyright:
- The National Library of Medicine believes this item to be in the public domain. (More information)
- Extent:
- 9 pages
- NLM Unique ID:
- 101584940X176 (See in Profiles in Science)
- Profiles in Science ID:
- DHBBLR
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101584940X176
- Archival Collection:
- The Michael Heidelberger Papers (Profiles in Science)