Immuno-Electronmicroscopic Studies of Surface Antigens of Blood Elements : I. Autoantibody on Erythrocytes in Acute Hemolytic Anemia

Tagging, by means of the immunoferritin technic, of autoantibody on the erythrocytes of a patient with autoimmune hemolytic anemia, and on cells from a panel of blood of normal individuals of blood group O which have been incubated either with the patient’s serum or eluate from his cells, is described. It was found that: 1) Ferritin-labeled antibody to human IgG was localized on the surface of the patient’s erythrocytes at fairly even intervals. 2) Ferritin-labeled antibody to human IgM, β1C, rat globulin or pure ferritin alone was not bound to the patient’s cells. 3) None of the ferritin-conjugates mentioned in 1) or 2) or pure ferritin was bound to red cells from normal individuals represented in the panel. 4) Only ferritin-conjugated antibody to human IgG was localized, in a similar pattern, on the surface of the normal red cells which had been incubated either with the patient’s serum or the eluate from his cells, whereas none of the conjugates in 2) or pure ferritin was bound to these treated cells.