IMMUNOREACTIONS INVOLVING PLATELETS

A steric and kinetic model for the sequence and mechanism of reactions leading to formation of a complex from an antibody, a haptene (quinidine), and a cell membrane (platelets), and to fixation of complement by the complex was deduced from the effects of varying the initial concentration of each component of the complex on the amount of complement fixed, from kinetic aspects of the sequential reactions, and from other chemical and physical properties of the various components involved. Theoretical results calculated using equations based on the model, which were derived by Dr. Terrell L. Hill, were similar in all respects to experimental results. Results of this study were consistent with the possibilities that the protein moiety of a haptenic antigen involved in development of an antibody which attaches to a cell is not necessarily a component of the cell, and that the cell reacts with the antibody by virtue of having a surface favorable for non-specific adsorption of certain haptene-antibody complexes.