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A Chemical Approach to the Mechanism of B‐Lymphocyte Activation
Author(s) -
VIDALGOMEZ J.,
A VidalGomez. J.
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.934
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1365-3083
pISSN - 0300-9475
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3083.1979.tb03062.x
Subject(s) - dinitrophenyl , ficoll , polyclonal antibodies , chemistry , antibody , lymphocyte , microbiology and biotechnology , immunology , biochemistry , biology , peripheral blood mononuclear cell , in vitro
Non‐immunogenic dinitrophenyl‐polymethylmethacrylate and dinitrophenyl‐cellulose were rendered immunogenic by introducing, or by exposing, hydroxyl groups; i.e. hydrogen bonds. Conversely, acetylation of Ficoll yielded a polymer no longer functioning as a good carrier, and a similar result was obtained when dipole and hydrogen bond‐supplying groups of polyacrylamide were replaced by more hydrophobic chains. All these findings point towards the existence of a carrier‐associated lymphocyte‐triggering structure. Despite the latter conclusion, the carrier need not be a polyclonal antibody inductor. The possibility of a signal not resulting in polyclonal antibody induction was tested with the system Ficoll/dinitrophenyl‐Ficoll: whereas a pulse of Ficoll specifically impaired the immunogenicity of dinitrophenyl‐Ficoll, it did not elicit a significant antibody level increase over background. Nevertheless, repetitive Ficoll inoculations into mice gradually increased the basal anti‐trinitrophenyl antibody level, and concomitantly the anti‐dinitrophenyl response to dinitrophenyl‐Ficoll was specifically impaired since the anti‐trinitrophenyl response lo trinitrophenyl‐LPS was unaffected. The two main conclusions are that (1) the ultimate lymphocyte‐triggering structure resides in the carrier, and (2) the mere presence of that carrier‐associated structure does not mean polyclonal antibody induction, at least under conventional test conditions (i.e. one pulse, 2 days in culture).