Antigen Absorption by the Gut, Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1978

w. A. HEMMINGS The concept that proteins can enter cells whole is a difficult one. Yet the model situations whereby this process may be studied have been known and investigated for many years. Those situations arise through the specialization required to transfer immunoglobulins synthesized by the mother to the circulation of the fetus or newborn animal, that is in the transmission of passive immunity to the young. This always entails the protein crossing a continuous cellular barrier, in the placenta or fetal membranes, or in the intestinal epithelium. The concept is hard to accept in terms of cell biology because it is difficult to envisage a mechanism whereby proteins can pass in quantity a cell membrane which is regulating the entry of solutes. Brambell has put forward an hypothesis of such a mechanism, restating it in 'The transmission of passive immunity from mother to young' in 1970. In 1974, after his death, a symposium was held in Bangor largely on this subject, published as 'Maternofetal Transmission of Immunoglobulins' . Since then two further meetings have been held on gut transfer under the title of the present volume, which is composed of papers drawn from these two meetings.

1. Introduction.- 2. The receptor hypothesis of protein ingestion.- 3. Macromolecular uptake and transport by the small intestine of the suckling rat.- 4. A preliminary study of the binding of rat and bovine IgG to isolated brush borders from neonatal rat jejunum.- 5. The transmission of high molecular weight break-down products of protein across the gut of suckling and adult rats.- 6. Ferritin uptake by the gut of the adult rat: an immunological and electron microscopic study.- 7. Oral immunization of rats with human serum albumin: interference with intestinal absorption and tolerogenic effect.- 8. Biological functions of antigen-IgA antibody complexes: in vivo and in vitro interference with intestinal absorption and tolerogenic effect.- 9. Antibody response in pigs and calves to antigens from the intestinal lumen and the efficacy of oral immunoprophylaxis against post-weaning enteric infection.- 10. Absorption and endogenous production of immunoglobulins in calves.- 11. Antigen uptake in the small intestine of guinea pigs infected with Trichinella spiralis.- 12. Antibody production in the intestine-associated immune tissues following antigen stimulation in the bowel lumen.- 13. Natural antibodies and the intestinal flora in rodents.- 14. Delayed-hypersensitivity reactions in the small intestine.- 15. Schizophrenia, cereal grains and the gut barrier Coeliac disease as a model.- 16. The chemistry of gliadin.- 17. Urticaria and dietary hypersensitivity.- 18. A review of endotoxin and its absorption from the gut.- 19. Antibody facilitated digestion and the consequences of its failure.- 20. Endopeptidase activity of the small intestine.- 21. The traffic of lymphocytes through the gut of mammals.- 22. Summing up.