BACTERICIDAL PROPERTIES OF BLOOD SERUM 149 



the work of Matsuo 35 it seems likely that the autolysins of par- 

 oxysmal hemoglobinuria are not identical with the isolysins a and j8 . 



Since the reintroduction of blood transfusion as a therapeutic 

 measure the occurrence of hemolysis between the blood of two human 

 beings has become of great practical importance. A number of seri- 

 ous or fatal accidents following the transfusion of hemolytic blood 

 have been reported. Ottenberg and Kaliski 36 have shown that it 

 is possible regularly to avoid such accidents by preliminary blood 

 tests. 



These tests are easily carried out by obtaining serum and washed 

 blood cells from both prospective recipient and donor, and testing 

 them one against the other for hemagglutination and hemolysis, as 

 follows : 



1. Active Serum Donor, 0.5 c. c. + Red Cells Recipient, 0.5 c. c. 



(5% emulsion in NaCl) 



2. Active Serum Recipient 0.5 c. c. + Red Cells Donor 0.5 c. c. 



o ^ 



" Controls of both varieties of cells in salt solution. 



Such tests should be observed for at least two hours before final 

 readings are taken. 



Although we have by no means covered in detail the entire ex- 

 perimental plan followed by Ehrlich and his collaborators during 

 their early work, we are now ready to consider the basic views on 

 the structure of the lytic antibodies which they deduced. 



It appears from the preceding that the thermostable hemolytic 

 antibody must, of necessity, unite with the red cell before the com- 

 plement or alexin can exert its action upon it. Ehrlich conceives 

 this process as a mediation on the part of the heat-stable substance 

 between the antigen and the alexin or complement. The heat-stable 

 body, which he calls "amboceptor," because of its assumed mode of 

 action, possesses two combining groups one the "cytophile," by 

 means of which it is anchored to the sensitive cell, the other the 

 "complementophile," by means of which it exerts affinity for the 

 complement. The original cell receptor, from which such an "ambo- 

 ceptor" takes its origin, is one which not only can combine with the 

 antigenic substance offered for assimilation, but which also possesses 

 another atom group by means of which it can enlist the aid of the 

 digestive ferment of the blood, the alexin or complement. Cast off 

 into the blood stream, as a result of overregeneration, it now appears 

 as a "double" receptor, which can form a link between antigen and 

 complement. 



35 Matsuo. D. Arc. f. kl Med., Bd. 107 H 4 , p. 335. 

 n 36 Ottenberg and Kaliski. J. A. M. A., Vol. 61, 1913. 



