Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 1939 Jan 1;69(1):103-18.
doi: 10.1084/jem.69.1.103.

THE MOLECULAR WEIGHT OF ANTIBODIES

E A Kabat  1
Affiliations

THE MOLECULAR WEIGHT OF ANTIBODIES

E A Kabat. J Exp Med. .

Abstract

1. Highly purified preparations of homogeneous antibody can be made by the salt dissociation methods (6, 7) without any change in sedimentation due to the method of purification. 2. Antibodies prepared from sera of various animal species fall into two groups as regards molecular weight; in one group cow, horse, and pig, a heavy molecule of molecular weight 990,000 is formed; in human being, rabbit, and monkey, the molecular size is that of the normal gamma serum globulin. Both types of antibody molecules are either not compact or not spherical since the frictional ratios f/f(0) are 2.0 and 1.5 respectively. 3. Horse antibody shows an unchanged activity and sedimentation diagram between pH 3.44-9.06, although there is some aggregation at the more acid and some dissociation at the more alkaline pH. At pH 1.44 the antibody activity is unchanged but some breakdown of the molecule takes place. At pH 12.4 activity is destroyed and the molecule is completely broken down. 4. Some horse antibody preparations show evidence of breakdown of the antibody into inhomogeneous material on continued immunization over a long period.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. J Exp Med. 1930 Sep 30;52(4):477-83 - PubMed
    1. J Exp Med. 1933 Feb 28;57(3):373-9 - PubMed
    1. J Exp Med. 1935 Mar 31;61(4):559-62 - PubMed
    1. J Exp Med. 1936 Apr 30;63(5):737-44 - PubMed
    1. J Exp Med. 1938 Jan 31;67(2):181-99 - PubMed