The student of biological science in his final years as an undergraduate and his first years as a graduate is expected to gain some familiarity with current research at the frontiers of his discipline. New research work is published in a perplexing diversity of publications and is inevitably con cerned with the minutiae of the subject. The sheer number of research journals and papers also causes confusion and difficulties of assimilation. Review articles usually presuppose a background knowledge of the field and are inevitably rather restricted in scope. There is thus a need for short but authoritative introductions to those areas of modern biological research which are either not dealt with in standard introductory textbooks or are not dealt with in sufficient detail to enable the student to go on from them to read scholarly reviews with profit. This series of books is designed to satisfy this need. The authors have been asked to produce a brief outline of their subject assuming that their readers will have read and remembered much of a standard introductory textbook of biology. This outline then sets out to provide by building on this basis, the conceptual framework within which modern research work is progressing and aims to give the reader an indication of the problems, both conceptual and practical, which must be overcome if progress is to be maintained.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
1 Introduction. - 2 Isolation and purification of immunoglobulins and specific antibodies. - 2 1 Induction of serum antibodies. - 2. 2 Isolation of immunoglobulins. - 2. 3 Isolation of specific antibodies. - 2. 4 Monoclonal antibodies produced by hybrid myelomas (hybridomas). - References. - 3 General structure of immunoglobulins. - 3. 1 The basic four chain model for IgG. - 3. 2 Immunoglobulins are glycoproteins. - 3. 3 Amino acid sequence studies. - 3. 4 The antibody binding site. - 3. 5 Immunoglobulin domains. - 3. 6 Allotypes and idiotypes of immunoglobulins. - References. - 4 Antibod -antigen interaction. - 4. 1 The intermolecular forces involved in antibody antigen interactions. - 4. 2 The measurement of antibody antigen reactions. - 4. 3 The study of the chemistry of antibody antigen reactions. - 4. 4 The thermodynamics of antibody antigen reactions. - 4. 5 The kinetics of the antibody antigen reactions. - 4. 6 The biological aspects of antibody affinity. - 4. 7 The specificity and cross-reactivity of antibody antigen interactions. - References. - 5 Structure and biological activities of the immunoglobulin classes. - 5. 1 Immunoglobulin G. - 5. 2 Immunoglobulin A. - 5. 3 Immunoglobulin M. - 5. 4 Immunoglobulin E. - 5. 5 Immunoglobulin D. - 5. 6 Effector functions of antibodies. - References. - 6 The control of antibody production. - 6. 1 The synthesis and secretion of antibody molecules. - 6. 2 The genetic control of antibody biosynthesis. - 6. 3 The generation of antibody diversity. - References.
