antitoxin

antitoxin

antitoxin, any of a group of antibodies formed in the body as a response to the introduction of poisonous products, or toxins. By introducing small amounts of a specific toxin into the healthy body, it is possible to stimulate the production of antitoxin so that the body's defenses are already established against invasion by the bacteria or other organisms that produce the toxin. See immunity.

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Antitoxin

An antibody that will combine with and generally neutralize a particular toxin. When the manifestations of a disease are caused primarily by a microbial toxin, the corresponding antitoxin, if available in time, may have a pronounced prophylactic or curative effect. Apart from this, the other properties of an antitoxin are those of the antibody family (lgG, IgA, IgM) to which it belongs. See Antibody, Biologicals, Immunoglobulin

Antitoxins have been developed for nearly all microbial toxins. Diphtheria, tetanus, botulinus, gas gangrene, and scarlatinal toxins are important examples. Antitoxins may be formed in humans as a result of the disease or the carrier state, or following vaccination with toxoids, and these may confer active immunity. The status of this can be evaluated through skin tests, or by titration of the serum antitoxin level. See Botulism, Diphtheria, Immunity, Toxin-antitoxin reaction

McGraw-Hill Concise Encyclopedia of Bioscience. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

antitoxin

[‚an·tē′täk·sən]

(immunology)

An antibody elaborated by the body in response to a bacterial toxin that will combine with and generally neutralize the toxin.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

antitoxin

1. an antibody that neutralizes a toxin

2. blood serum that contains a specific antibody

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005