Skin-prick test preparations of Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus for prediction of a positive response to provocation testing.

Skin-prick testing (SPT) with allergen is widely used in the investigation of respiratory disease, yet its relationship to the results of provocation testing of the nose or bronchus remains obscure. We have studied this relationship by determining the concentration of Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus extract and the associated weal size which resulted in the lowest 'false positive' (FP) and highest 'true positive' (TP) rates when compared to the results of bronchial and nasal provocation testing. Subjects studied included those with both positive and negative bronchial or nasal provocation tests.

Fibrin binding. An essential property of anisoylated plasminogen streptokinase activator complex.

Use of an immobilised lysine column as a model system to assess the fibrin binding properties of plasminogen and its derivatives showed that anisoylated plasminogen streptokinase activator complex (APSAC) behaved in a manner similar to that of lys-plasminogen, the adsorption being inhibited in the presence of epsilon-aminocaproic acid. In 3 experimental systems using fibrin as the adsorbant, however, APSAC was more firmly bound than plasminogen and was not readily eluted by epsilon-aminocaproic acid.

Chemical modification of crude timothy grass pollen extract. III. The effect of glutaraldehyde-induced aggregation on antigenic and immunogenic properties.

Timothy pollen extracts have been reacted with glutaraldehyde under conditions leading to different degrees of aggregation of the product. Aggregation tends to enhance the previously demonstrated effects of glutaraldehyde in that reactivity with human IgE antibody, and ability to induce IgE antibody in the Bordetella pertussis-treated rat, are further reduced. Ability to induce IgG antibody with specificity for unmodified extract is substantially retained in all aggregated products.