Tannic acid in glutaraldehyde fixatives greatly enhanced the visualization of two developmentally and morphologically distinct stages in glomerular basement membrane (GBM) formation in newborn rat kidneys. First, in early stage glomeruli, double basement membranes between endothelial cells and podocytes were present and, in certain areas, appeared to be fusing. Second, in maturing stage glomeru...

Experiments were conducted to determine whether nursling rats immunized with tetanus toxoid (TT) are able to produce a specific antibody response and whether oral treatment with retinyl palmitate, concurrent with immunization, affects the magnitude of the anti-TT response. When rats aged 8-15 d and nursed by vitamin A-sufficient dams were immunized with TT, no primary anti-TT immunoglobulin (Ig...

IT IS accepted generally that antibodies directed against red blood cell antigens in the Rh system result from isoimmunization either by transfusion or pregnancy and rarely can be considered “naturally-occurring.” Diamond et al. reported the first example of a naturally-occurring antibody within this system in 1942.3 They described an antibody, apparently anti-D, in the serum of a five-year-old...

The use of transfusion therapy for sickle cell disease (SCD) is increasing due to expanded indications, increased availability of erythrocytapheresis, and oral chelators to treat transfusional iron overload. However, alloimmunization to red blood cell (RBC) blood group antigens remains a major complication for patients with SCD and often presents significant challenges in their medical manageme...

Human IgG is a well-established multifunctional antigen specific immunoglobulin molecule of the adaptive immune system. However, an antigen nonspecific immunological function of human IgG has never been reported. In this study, human IgG was isolated using ammonium sulfate fractional precipitation and diethylaminoethanol (DEAE) cellulose 52 ion exchange chromatography, from which h-IgG and hs-I...

IgG antibodies can suppress more than 99% of the antibody response against the antigen to which they bind. This is used clinically to prevent rhesus-negative (Rh-) women from becoming immunized against Rh+ erythrocytes from their fetuses. The suppressive mechanism is poorly understood, but it has been proposed that IgG/erythrocyte complexes bind to the inhibitory Fc receptor for IgG (FcgammaRII...

Monocyte and macrophage Fc. receptors are important components in the recognition of IgG-coated cells and lgG-containing immune complexes. Two proteins have been identified on human peripheral blood monocytes that can function as Fc. receptors. Fc7Rl (70 Kd) and Fc. Rll (40 Kd). We studied the role of Fc.,RI and Fc.,RII on human monocytes by examining their binding of lgG-sensitized cells (huma...

S ALINE AGGLUTINATION REACTIONS of variable strength among Rh positive bloods were reported soon after the discovery of the Rh factor.”2 Wieners suggested that these D variant types were determined by special “intermediate” Rh genes and Stratton2 postulated that this weak D antigen was elaborated by a new allele, D’, at the D-d locus. The only blood types which could he classified as DL variant...

Of all blood group systems, anti Rh antibodies are the commonest cause of haemolytic disease of the newborn (HDN) and its diagnosis and management plan is well established. Also immunization with 'D' antigen can be effectively prevented by prophylactic use of anti-D Immunoglobulin. Therefore its prevalence has declined but now less common alloantibodies are frequently encountered posing differe...