XLVI. THE JOINT ACTION OF SEVERAL AMBOCEPTORS 



IN HAEMOLYSIS AND THEIR RELATION TO 



THE COMPLEMENTS. 1 



By Drs. H. SACHS and J. BAUER. 



THERE is still no unanimity of opinion concerning the mechanism 

 of the cytotoxic action of blood serum. Most of the authors, to 

 be sure, have accepted the amboceptor theory of Ehrlich and Mor- 

 genroth. According to this view, the thermostable components 

 of the serum posses two haptophore groups, one combining with 

 the cell and the other with the complement, the labile component 

 of the serum. Bordet, however, continues most ingeniously to 

 defend an opposing view. In the sensitization theory advocated 

 by this distinguished investigator, the existence of a direct relation- 

 ship between amboceptor and complement is denied. Accord- 

 ing to this view, which is based on molecular adhesion, the cell 

 is sensitized by the amboceptor so that it becomes vulnerable to 

 the action of the complement. So far as can be discovered blood 

 cells (which constitute the ordinary material on which to study the 

 mechanism of amboceptor action) do not by themselves react with 

 complement, and it has therefore been impossible to prove the cor- 

 rectness of the sensitization theory experimentally. The theory 

 can only be defended indirectly, by showing that there is no direct 

 relation between amboceptor and complement. Bordet' s demon- 

 strations have therefore been limited to pointing out objections 

 in experiments supporting the amboceptor theory. It is not our 

 intention to present all the material bearing on this point. One 

 of us 2 has recently reviewed the subject on the ilght of our present 

 knowledge. Suffice it to say that the refutation of experiments 



1 Reprinted from Arbeiten u. d. kgl. Institut f. experimentelle Therapie zu 

 Frankfurt a. M. Heft 3, Jena, 1907. 



2 Sachs, Die Hsemolysine und die cytotoxischen Sera. Lubarsch-Ostertags 

 Ergebnisse der Pathologic. Vol. 11, 1907. 



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