MECHANISM OF ANTIBODY FORMATION 131 



contained 5.6, 6.2 and 2.2 per cent galactosemannose and 2.7, 2.9 and 

 1.1 per cent glucosamine. Euglobulin, pseudoglobulin, globoglycoid 

 and seroglycoid, respectively, contained 4.1, 3.3, 9.3, and 8.4 per cent 

 polysaccharide. 



Remington and Van der Ende (1940) reviewed the problem by pre- 

 paring crystalline albumin, crystalline globoglycoid, and seroglycoid 

 and seromucoid from horse serum. According to them seromucoid 

 contained 10.7 per cent of a polysaccharide consisting of N-acetyl- 

 d-glucosamine, d-mannose and d-galactose in equimolecular pro- 

 portions. Crystalline albumin and globoglycoid are essentially identical 

 and differ from seroglycoid. The latter, although closely related to 

 seromucoid, was not identical with its immunological properties. 



The purified antitoxic pseudoglobulin contained 2.6 per cent of 

 carbohydrate calculated as mannose-galactose-glucosamine. Peterman 

 and Pappenheimer (1941) showed that after digesting diphtheria anti- 

 toxic material with pepsin the carbohydrate moiety remaining with the 

 antitoxic portion of the molecule amounted to 3.8 per cent. Northrop 

 (1942) working with crystalline diphtheria antitoxin showed the pres- 

 ence of not less than 2 per cent carbohydrate as part of the molecule. 



Immune y-globulins from human, horse and bovine sources were 

 analyzed by Smith, Green and Bartner (1946) and were found to 

 contain from 1.26 to 1.5 per cent hexamine. The ratio of hexamine to 

 hexose was 1 to 2. 



During the synthesis of antibody globulin resulting in the orienta- 

 tion of various groups in accordance with the configuration of the 

 antigenic molecule one could expect that the polar groups in the 

 carbohydrate moiety of the molecule may likewise undergo similar 

 orientation. The specificity of the antibody wdth reference to the 

 optical configuration of the homologous antigen might in particular 

 be a property of the carbohydrate group of the antibody molecule. 

 In this connection the important question is whether or not d- and 

 1-active, or a- and /3-antigens produce, respectively, 1- and d-active 

 groups, or groups with a- and ^^-configurations in the antibody carbo- 

 hydrate group, in a manner comparable to the action of d- and 1-ac- 

 tive organic catalysts discussed above. At present we have no answer 

 to any one of these questions. 



c. Experiments Dealing Directly with the Question of Anti- 

 Antibody Formation. If the synthesized antibody molecule possesses 



