The Selective Transport of Antibodies from the Yolk Sac to the Circulation of the Chick

Abstract

It has been shown that in the rabbit the transfer of passive immunity from mother to foetus takes place through the yolk-sac wall (Brambell, Hemmings, Henderson, Parry, & Rowlands, 1949). This membrane is selective; when exposed experimentally to a mixture of antibodies produced in rabbit and other species, higher relative concentrations of rabbit antibody are found in the foetal circulation (Brambell, Hemmings, Henderson, & Rowlands, 1950). The heterologous antibodies enter at lower relative concentrations characteristic of each species. Thus man, guinea-pig, dog, horse, and cow antitoxins tested in this way, form a series in descending order (Batty, Brambell, Hemmings, & Oakley, 1954). It is of interest to determine if other membranes through which maternal immunity is transmitted to the young display a comparable selectivity. The yolk-sac of the chick provides a suitable and convenient membrane to examine, since passive immunity is known to be transmitted from mother to young by way of the yolk of the egg (Klemperer, 1893; Brandly, Moses, & Jungherr, 1946; Buxton, 1952).