STUDIES ON PROTEINS FROM BOVINE COLOSTRUM III. THE HOMOLOGOUS AND HETEROLOGOUS TRANSFER OF INGESTED PROTEIN TO THE BLOOD STREAM OF THE YOUNG ANIMAL* BY R. G. HANSENt

It has been adequately demonstrated that the new-born calf and kid acquire antibody proteins from ingested colostrum (1). These immune proteins appear in the blood stream of the young animal in a form immunologically indistinguishable from that in the colostrum (1). This apparent passage of intact protein through the gastrointestinal tract of the calf and kid is characteristic of the first few days of life (1, 2). The proteins of colostrum whey of the cow, goat, and pig are similar in that the principal fraction is globulin in nature (arbitrarily called “immune” globulin) with a low electric mobility (3, 4). The “immune” globulins of cow colostrum have been reported (4) to migrate in an electric field at a faster rate than the corresponding proteins of goat and pig colostrum. This difference in mobility has been used to study, by electrophoresis, the apparent gastrointestinal absorption of these colostrum proteins by the young kid. Further, immunological tests have been employed to study the possible transfer of normal milk “immune” protein from the gastrointestinal tract to the blood of the new-born calf. The results of both the electrophoretic and the immunological studies are reported here.