Cellular individuality in the higher animals, with special reference to the individuality of the red blood corpuscle—III

Abstract

Abstract It has been shown in previous communications (Todd, 1930, a, b) that the red blood corpuscle of the domestic fowl constitutes a “multiple antigen” of considerable complexity and of so high a degree of specificity that, in unrelated birds, the red cells of any particular fowl can be differentiated from those of any other individual of the same species, by means of a simple agglutination reaction carried out with suitably exhausted polyvalent iso-agglutinating sera. When the birds are closely related, however, this is not always possible, as the corpuscles of certain members of a family may show a very close resemblance. In the course of some earlier experiments, made in order to investigate the hereditary transmission of the characters of the red blood corpuscle, three separate couples of unrelated Plymouth Rock birds were mated, and the cells of parents and offspring in each of the three families examined in detail (Todd, 1930, b). On reviewing the results obtained and com­paring the behaviour of the corpuscles of the individual members in anyone family, it was seen that the cells of no two chicks appeared to be exactly alike, but that there was always some degree of difference, varying from a close resemblance to a very marked contrast; suggesting that the red cells contain a number of different antigenic units, each of which behaves independently during the process of hereditary transmission.