72 IMMUNO-CATALYSIS 



b. Findings Contrary to the Theory of the Hormonal Control of 

 the Release and Fabrication of Antibody. In contradiction to the 

 findings discussed above, Eisen et al. (1947) reported that adrenal 

 cortical activity is not essential for the fabrication or release of anti- 

 bodies and gamma-globulin. These investigators found identical 

 concentrations of serum antibodies and gamma-globulin in adrenalecto- 

 mized rats repeatedly injected during immunization with adrenal 

 cortical extract and similar animals not receiving this extract. Stoerk, 

 et al. (1947) studied the effect of adrenal cortical hormones on the 

 turnover of the serum proteins in adrenalectomized rats and likewise 

 found that the administration of adrenal cortical lipo-extract did not 

 exert any effect. 



2. The Reticulo-Endothelial Theory 



a. The Theory of Sabin. In a study to determine the true site and 

 the mechanism of antibody formation, Sabin followed the course and 

 the fate of R-salt-azo-benzidine-azo-egg albumin in the animal, and 

 traced its distribution and disappearance in various body cells. The 

 dye-protein in the form of purplish red-alum-precipitated particles 

 was introduced into rabbits through intraperitoneal, intravenous, 

 intradermal, and subcutaneous routes. After the intravenous injec- 

 tions the dye-protein was located in the Kupffer cells of the liver, in 

 the macrophages of the milk spots of the omentum and in the cor- 

 responding cells of the peritoneal walls, as well as in the endothelium 

 lining the lymphatic sinuses of the retrosternal nodes and in the free 

 macrophages of sinuses and follicles of these nodes. After intradermal 

 and subcutaneous injections it was in local macrophages and in the 

 regional lymph nodes. The dye protein was found in the vacuoles of 

 digestion of the phagocytic cell and altered first by the removal of the 

 dye; thereafter the solid particles of protein disappeared and it was 

 assumed to have been rendered soluble and passed into the cyto- 

 plasm. The vacuoles are considered the cellular organs of digestion, 

 and the cytoplasm the zone of synthesis. Coincident with the time 

 when the dye-protein is no longer visible within these cells, and when 

 there are antibodies in the serum, there is observed a marked ac- 

 celeration (over that of the normal rate) of the shedding of the surface 

 films of the macrophages without damage to them. With the shedding 



