ANTIGENS, HAPTENS, ANTIBODIES, ETC. 439 



shaking. It has been maintained that complement is 

 only active when the colloid particles are of a given size 

 and when the correct concentrations of electrol^i^es are 

 present ; changes in the degree of dispersion or the 

 proportion of the electrolytes disturb the balance with 

 loss of activity. If the changes are small they may be 

 reversible and activity spontaneously regained ; large 

 changes are irreversible. It has been pointed out that 

 ail changes which inactivate complement lower the surface 

 tension, due to an alteration of the colloidal conditions 

 which may be associated with the globulin, albumin, 

 lipoid or electrolyte components of the system. This is 

 borne out to some extent by the production of the artificial 

 complement (p. 434) which is inactivated by heat and can 

 be used in the Wassermann reaction like ordinary 

 complement. 



It has been claimed that complement may be a 

 complex of ascorbic acid, proteins and lipoids, since 

 guinea-pigs fed on a diet devoid of ascorbic acid (vitamin- 

 C) produced no complement ; the addition of ascorbic 

 acid to the diet caused the almost immediate appearance 

 of complement in the serum, only to disappear again if 

 the vitamin were withdrawn. 



For further reading : — 



W. C. Bojd, " Fundamentals of Immimology." Chapters II, III, IV and 



VII. Interscience Publishers, Inc. New York, 1943. 

 C. H. Browning, '' Immunochemical Studies." Constable & Co. London, 



1925. 

 F. M. Burnet, '" The Production of Antibodies." Monographs from the 



Eliza and Walter Hall Institute of Research in Pathology and Medicine. 



No. 1. Macmillan & Co. Melbourne, 1942. 

 K. Landsteiner, " The Specificity of Serological Reactions." Harvard 



University Press. Cambridge, Mass., 1945. 

 J. R. Marrack, " The Chemistry of Antigens and Antibodies." Medical 



Research Council Special Report No. 230. H.M. Stationery Office. 



London, 1938. 



