Rabbit natural antibodies against glycolipids

TABLE III. RABBIT NATURAL ANTIBODIES AGAINST GLYCOLIPIDS HAVING TERMINAL N-ACETYLGALACTOSAMINE RESIDUES... 

We have demonstrated that every one of the human and rabbit sera tested have natural antibodies against several glycolipids. Most of the glycolipids used as antigens in this study normally occur in human and rabbit tissues (18), and therefore many, if not all, of the activities described are due to autoantibodies. 

Numerous studies of specificities of anti-glycolipid antibodies produced by immunizing rabbits have been reported (8,9), and some discrepancies have been noted between laboratories (9). The widespread occurrence of natural antibodies might cause confusion in analyzing specificities produced by experimental immunization. Because of this we have purified both immune and natural anti-glycolipid antibodies from rabbit sera, and we have compared their specifities against the same, and different, glycolipids. 

Figure 1. Natural antibodies in normal human and rabbit sera against liposomes containing no glycolipid, galactosylceramide, or lactosylceramide. Glucose release measured from liposomes containing DMPC, CHOL, DCP, and, where indicated, galactosylceramide (150 fig/nmol PC) or lactosylceramide (150 ng/fimol PC).

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