BALWANT
SINGH
13
According to Szymanowski [1934], investigations upon isoagglutination in animals
are much more difficult than in man, because the affinity of blood corpuscles and their
corresponding agglutinins is much less developed. The result is that, if agglutination
occurs at all, it is much slower and less pronounced than in man. The influence of tem-
perature on the reaction is also more marked. Little [1929] discussed the irregularities
in the isoagglutination of the blood of bovines and observed that in cattle changes in
respect of isoagglutination occur frequently without any definite reason. In the absence
of experimental data, the possibility that the nutritive condition of an animal may be a
factor in this occasional variation in the constituents might well repay investigation.
Another factor, which makes research still more difficult, is the lack of physiological
agglutinins corresponding to the group characteristic of a given individual. Finally,
there is an uneven quantitative relationship between the two principal characteristics.
As a result of this, it often seems, especially at the beginning of an investigation,
that there is only one group. In livestock, especially among the more domesticated
breeds, many animals do not fit into a general scheme, a large prercentage of them being
excluded on account of the agglutination of corpuscles by the serum of their own group.
This creates a large field for individual interpretation and makes the result dependent
upon the precision with which the experiment is performed.
The differentiation of blood groups in animals of different species has been carried
out in other countiries. Thus, there is close relationship between anthropoid apes and
man. In chimpanzees, group A is predominent, followed by O and B ; in the orang-
outang, the groupings are A, B or AB ; in the gorilla, A alone ; in the gibbon, B group-
ing alone has been found. Oldworld monkeys have corpuscles which do not react with
human sera A and B, but the monkeys of the new world and also some lemurs react with
serum anti-B. Dogs show a lack of physiological isoagglutinins but their appearance
can be produced by cross-immunization with the corpuscles of other dogs. Lauer [1930]
states that canine sera agglutinated human group O corpuscles, while human group AB
sera agglutinated canine blood corpuscles. Kaempffer [1932] carried out extensive
work on blood-groups in pigs and was able to establish four groups viz. O, A, B, and AB.
A small percentage of pigs was anomalous. Ottenberg and Friedman [1911] reported
the presence of group isoagglutinins in steers and rabbits.
Extensive work on the existence and classification of blood-groups in horses has
been carried out. Walsh [1924] studied the inter-relationship of horses, asses and mules
by means of isoagglutination and concluded that a high proportion of samples of ass serum
agglutinates the erythrocytes of horses but does not agglutinate the corpuscles of the
mule. Schermer et al. [1932] carried out work on the blood-groups of equines, with
special reference to hereditary factors. They confirmed the existence of four groups, as
well as of ' accessory ' groups. Anderson [1932] records four blood-groups in horses
and suggests the possibility of differentiating breeds by blood-group reactions. Burghardt
[1933] classified various breeds of horses into four groups, similar to those found in man.
Fourie [1935] studied blood-groups in horses with special reference to blood transfusion.
Reeser [1938] in 64 per cent of horses found the agglutinin factor for group AB of man.
Herman [1936] found a resemblance between the blood groups of men and horses. He
suggests blood transfusion in horses for therapeutic purposes. Thomoff [1930] also
demonstrated four groups in horses. He states that the agglutinogens in their manner
of working do not appear to differ from those of man but that isoagglutinins are present
in lower titre.
Investigations on the isoagglutinins of cattle are, according to Schermer [1934], very
difficult, as their serum rarely contains isoagglutinins. Hofferber and Winter [1932]
studied the blood groups of bovines in America and Germany and classified animals in
groups O, A and B ; they did not observe the structure, AB. Important work on the
isoagglutinins of bovines was carried out by Little [1929]. This author used 209 cows
and 31 bulls in his experiments and classified them into the following three groups :—
Group I . .
Group II . .
Group III . .
Serum agglutinative ; corpuscles occasionally agglutinable.
Cells agglutinable, serum not agglutinative.
Serum not agglutinative, corpuscles not agglutinable.
When reactions are not in conformity with the above groupings, the author suggests that
the animals belong to other groups.