THE IMMUNOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF COLOSTRUM

Abstract

The protective antibody content of normal cow serum is below that of colostrum of the same animal. The method used does not permit the titration of the actual amount of the antibody in serum. Quantities up to 2 cc. have no protective effect. The same limitations apply to the titration of milk owing to the introduction of large quantitites of foreign protein into the peritoneal cavity of the guinea pig. When cows were immunized and a serum of high titer obtained, the antibodies in the milk of such cows rose to within the range of the method of testing. The relation of the protective capacity of serum to that of milk was approximately 1/120 and 1/40 in the two animals. These figures do not differ much from those obtained by early investigators titrating the antitoxic content of serum and milk of animals undergoing immunization with diphtheria toxin. In the two experiments on calves, 2¼ and 18 days old respectively, fed a highly protective serum, no increase in agglutinins or protective antibodies could be demonstrated. The postponement of colostrum to the 12th and 18th hour, respectively did not prevent normal growth.