Humoral antibody production by New Zealand eels, against the intestinal trematode Telogaster opisthorchis Macfarlane, 1945

Abstract. It was shown by agar-gel diffusion and passive haemagglutination that serum from the New Zealand eel Anguilla australis schmidtii Phillips and gut mucus from Anguilla dieffenbachii Gray contained precipitating antibody against antigen prepared from the intestinal trematode Telogaster opisthorchis MacFarlane, 1945. The estimated molecular weight determined by gel-filtration on Sephadex G-200 was 670,000 daltons. The 2-mercaptoethanol sensitivity of this antibody suggested it was a macroglobulin analagous to γ M.
Eel sera also contained naturally occurring agglutinins and lysins against sheep RBC's. Agglutinins had an approximate molecular weight of 142,000, were sensitive to 2-mercaptoethanol and occurred more frequently among larger eels. It was suggested that the appearance of agglutinins was an immunological phenomenon and that these antibodies were directed against the ABO system.