Abstract
The development of newer, higher sensitive techniques for the detection of small amounts of antibodies opens new fields for investigation. The immunospecific inactivation of chemically modified bacteriophages by antibodies directed toward the attached hapten or protein allows for the detection of as little as 0.2–2.0 ng antibody ml. Likewise, minute amounts of hapten or protein may be detected and measured by their ability to inhibit the inactivation of the chemically modified bacteriophage by the antihapten or antiprotein antibodies. We have studied the presence of penicillin and DNP antibodies in the sera of newborn infants and their mothers by the use of penicilloylated and dinitrophenylated-T4-bacteriophage. In almost every paired sera studied, evidence was found for the presense of penicillin antibodies. Premixing the sera with penicillin climinated the penicillin-T4-phage inactivation. Preheating the diluted sera for 5 hr at 56 in order to destroy reaginic activity led in most cases to diminished inactivation in mothers' and infants' sera, indicating that a certain amount of the antibody is reaginic in type. Absorbing the sera on anti-IgE-sepharose prior to testing confirmed that in those sera in which there were heat-liable penicillin antibodies, there were heat-labile penicillin antibodies, there were also IgE penicillin antibodies, and there was a good relationship between the amount of antibody found by the two methods. Some infants showed the presence of IgE penicillin antibodies whilst their mothers had none, indicating the fetus ability to prodce IgE antibodies. one mother had IgE penicillin antibodies while her infant had none, indicating that these antibodies did not pass through the placenta. Antibodies to DNP in a titre 25 times that of penicillin were found in all mothers and infants studied. It is concluded that the modified phage technique as an ultrasensitive method for antibody assay has advantages over other assay methods, and by using this technique we have shown that actively produced penicillin IgE antibodies may be found in newborn sera, and that IgE penicillin antibodies probably do not pass the placenta from mother to infant.
Article PDF
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Levin, S., Altman, Y. & Seln, M. 23. Penicillin and dinitrophenyl antibodies in newborns and mothers delected with chemically modified bacteriophage. Pediatr Res 5, 87–88 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197102000-00028
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197102000-00028