Ascorbate and the unpriming of antibodies

[joiv]

Unpriming of antibodies is described by both Catchart (http://www.orthomed.com/unprimed.htm) and Hickey/Roberts ("Ascorbate - the science of vitamin C).

Today I decided to test Catchart's hypotheses in the lab.

Hypotheses: Ascorbate reduces the disulfide bridges - that connect the light chain with the heavy chain in antibodies - to sulfhydryl groups. This makes the antibodies unable to bind to antigen; they become unprimed.

1) I filled to glasses - A and B - with a solution with B antibodies (one drop of "standard" antibody solution in 1mL 0.9% NaCl solution)

2) To both A and B I added 2 drops of a 5% solution of blood cells with antigen B. In the solution added to A I had put a pinch of sodium ascorbate.

3) Then I mixed them and put them both on a glass plate to study them in a microscope.

Conclusion: As expected much of the blood cells were agglutinated in the control, while in the test solution there was almost no degree of agglutination. (at most 2-4 blood cells attached to each other). Ascorbate clearly affects the antibodies ability to bind to antigen. If it is by the mechanism described by Catchart is unknown, but likely.

Code: Select all

Test            Control

| A |           | B |
|   |           |   |
|   |           |   |
|___|           |___|

ascorbate   
B blood cells   B blood cells
B antibodies    B antibodies


This was done during class (I study medicine) so I had to use what was available of resources. Just had to see for myself. I guess this far from proves anything, but it "gives a hint".

One day I'm going to perform an experiment with solutions matching physiological condition, write an article and hopefully get it published. Maybe Catchart will be proven right some day. This is a very important property of ascorbate. Too bad it goes unnoticed by the medical establishment.

[ofonorow]

Remind us, at the macro level, why such a property would be useful? Are you thinking allergies?

[joiv]

Prevention of allergic and autoimmune conditions
Blocking of symptoms in allergies and autoimmune diseases
Perhaps it might be useful as acute treatment of wrong blood transfusions

Abstract from Dr. Robert Catchart's article (http://www.orthomed.com/unprimed.htm):

I previously described that bowel tolerance (the amount that almost causes diarrhea) to oral ascorbic acid, increases in a person somewhat proportionally to the "toxicity" of his disease. Ascorbic acid ameliorates symptoms and sometimes cures certain diseases at high threshold levels near bowel tolerance. High concentrations of ascorbate cause the redox potential of the redox couple (ascorbate/dehydroascorbate, AA/DHA) to become reducing in diseased tissues. Allergic and sensitivity reactions are frequently ameliorated and sometimes completely blocked by massive doses of ascorbate. I now hypothesize that one mechanism in blocking of allergic symptoms is the reducing of the disulfide bonds between the chains in antibody molecules making their bonding antigen impossible. I further hypothesize that antibodies seek to match antigens only in areas where stray free radicals or a relatively oxidizing redox potential exists. The redox state of normal, healthy tissue does not allow for the bonding of antibodies to antigen. When antioxidant, free radical scavenging systems are overwhelmed, inflammatory, hypersensitivity, and "autoimmune" conditions may result.

[joiv]

This property might be useful when a mother has blood type RhD- and her child RhD+. It might prevent the mother from making antibodies against her child's blood cells.

[zucic]

This property might be useful when a mother has blood type RhD- and her child RhD+. It might prevent the mother from making antibodies against her child's blood cells.

I was always curious why Rh- was not selected out 100% during evolution,
when the above mentioned combination causes such a serious problem.
As the paleolithic diet contains much more vitamins (including C) than
modern diet, your explanation sounds as a reasonable theory. Negative Rh
is exceptionally rare among Chinese and other Asian peoples, and also
among Africans. It is very frequent among Basque people, which are
very old inhabitants of Europe. The agriculture (grains) probably came
very late there.