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STUDIES ON CYTOPHILIC ANTIBODIES
Author(s) -
Nelson DS,
Mildenhall P
Publication year - 1968
Publication title -
australian journal of experimental biology and medical science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.999
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1440-1711
pISSN - 0004-945X
DOI - 10.1038/icb.1968.3
Subject(s) - antibody , sensitization , adjuvant , immunology , ovalbumin , immunization , guinea pig , freund's adjuvant , subcutaneous injection , antigen , delayed hypersensitivity , intradermal injection , medicine
Summary Some factors affecting the production of cytophilic antibodies by guinea‐pigs were investigated, with special reference to the possible relationship between delayed‐type hypersensitivity and cytophilic antibody production. Guinea‐pigs were injected by different routes (intradermal, footpad, intra‐peritoneal, subcutaneous) with sheep erythrocytes incorporated in Freund's complete adjuvant. Sera were obtained after two weeks, when some of the animals were skin tested to determine the degree of delayed‐type hypersensitivity, and after three weeks. They were titrated for macrophage cytophilic antibody activity and complement‐fixing antibody activity. There was not a close correlation between the intensity of the delayed skin reactions and the titres of cytophilic antibodies present in the sera of individual animals two weeks after sensitization. Animals immunized by the subcutaneous rovite tended to develop much less intense delayed reactions and to produce much less cytophilic antibody than those immunized by other routes. This was, however, true only for sheep erythrocytes in guinea‐pigs. The responses to human serum albumin in adjuvant were almost as great after subcutaneous as after intradermal injection. These findings, together with previous observations on the responses of guinea‐pigs to ovalbumin and of mice to sheep erythrocytes, highlight the importance of an exact definition of conditions before conclusions on the efficacy of a particular mode of immunization can be drawn. The skin tests acted as booster doses of antigen which were followed by a much more pronounced rise in cytophilic antibody titres than in complement‐fixing antibody titres. There was some correlation between the intensity of delayed skin reactions at two weeks and the titres of cytophilic antibodies at three weeks, suggesting that to some extent cytophilic antibody production might reflect a previous delayed‐type hypersensitivity reaction. There was no correlation between cytophilic and complement‐fixing antibody titres in individual animals, suggesting that these two types of antibody are produced independently.