The Termination of Immunologic Unresponsiveness to BSA in Rabbits

[摘要] Rabbits made unresponsive to BSA at birth were given two courses of immunization with various cross-reacting albumins and a subsequent injection of BSA. The same fraction of unresponsive rabbits as control rabbits responded to this subsequent injection by producing antibody reactive with BSA. Normal control rabbits were found to produce higher levels of antibody than did the previously unresponsive rabbits. Assays for both antibody-producing cells in the spleens and serum antibody of the previously unresponsive rabbits showed that 1) the subsequent injection of BSA failed to recruit precursor cells specific for BSA, 2) those cells primed by the injections of the terminating antigens were exhausted by multiple injections of BSA, and 3) unresponsiveness appeared to be terminated to all determinants shared between BSA and the terminating antigen. Following immunization of either normal or BSA unresponsive rabbits with cross-reacting albumins, a subsequent injection of BSA resulted in the production of antibody specific for the cross-reacting albumin which could not be absorbed with BSA. The response in normal rabbits to the determinants on the BSA unrelated to the determinants on the cross-reacting antigen was secondary in nature.

[学科分类] 生物科学（综合）