370 IMMUNOLOGICAL STUDIES 



He suggested that intercellular matrices may play an important 

 part in the inductions, and (Grobstein, 1955, p. 252) that one 

 way in which the matrices might interact is by "molecular com- 

 plementariness, as has been suggested by Weiss (1947) and 

 Tyler (1947) for cell surfaces." He emphasized, however, that 

 there are many possible interpretations of the mechanism of the 

 inductive effects. Again the lack of direct information as to the 

 nature of the specific substances involved precludes further spec- 

 ulation with respect to the auto-antibody concept. 



In general, while there are suggestions that interactions of the 

 type envisioned in the auto-antibody concept may have a causal 

 connection with processes of induction and determination, direct 

 evidence of this is still lacking. 



Summary 



This paper is mainly a review of recent immuno-embryological 

 studies of various investigators, dealing with the detection in the 

 embryo of specific antigens of adult tissues, changes in anti- 

 genicity during development, development of antibody-forming 

 capacity, and eflPects of antibodies on development. These topics 

 are discussed in relation to an auto-antibody concept developed 

 by the author. It contains also results of certain current ex- 

 periments, by the author and his co-workers, in which it has been 

 found that cell division in the early development of eggs of sea 

 urchins can be blocked by antisera prepared against fertilizin. 

 These experiments represent the first, to the author's knowledge, 

 in which a block to cell division has been obtained with antisera 

 prepared against a chemically well-defined antigen. 



REFERENCES 



Alexander, J. 1932. Some intracellular aspects on life and disease. 



Protoplasma, 14, 296-306. 

 Barrett, M. K. 1952. Some immunogenetic influences upon transplanted 



tumors. Cancer Research, 12, 535-42. 

 Beale, G. H. 1952. Antigen variation in Paramecium aurelia Var. 1. 



Genetics, 37, 62-74. 



