I. A Theory of Antibody-Antigen Reactions. Part II. The Light-Scattering Properties of an Antigen-Antibody Reaction. III. Light-Scattering Arising from Composition Fluctuations in Multi-Component Systems

Citation

Goldberg, Richard Jay (1952) I. A Theory of Antibody-Antigen Reactions. Part II. The Light-Scattering Properties of an Antigen-Antibody Reaction. III. Light-Scattering Arising from Composition Fluctuations in Multi-Component Systems. Dissertation (Ph.D.), California Institute of Technology. doi:10.7907/M3F7-H051. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechTHESIS:10102017-140804348

Abstract

Part I describes a theory of antibody-antigen reactions employing bivalent and univalent antibody molecules and multivalent antigen molecules. All species in a system of this kind are defined by a distribution function which has been derived on the basis that the most probable distribution is the appropriate one. Some of the features of antibody-antigen reactions are discussed in the light of this theory.

In Part II experiments are described which measured the increase in turbidity of an antibody-antigen system with increasing time of reaction. It was found that the rate of aggregation of antibody and antigen molecules into large aggregates is dependent on the composition of the system. The existence of soluble aggregates in the antigen excess region is indicated.

A general theory of Rayleigh scattering due to composition fluctuations in multi-component systems has been developed with the aid of the grand canonical ensemble of Gibbs. It is found in Part III. The equation developed contains previously neglected terms arising from thermodynamic interactions between solutes in systems of more than two components.

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