INHIBITION OF SPECIFIC IGE RESPONSES IN MICE BY PRE-EXPOSURE TO INHALED ANTIGEN

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  • 1 January 1981
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 42  (3) , 409-417
Abstract
Exposure of mice to aerosolized ovalbumin (OA) once weekly for 5 min, or once weekly to 10 .mu.g OA in PBS [phosphate buffered saline] intranasally, elicited transient IgE responses which declined by the 7th wk. When these animals were challenged i.p. with soluble or alum-precipitated OA, their subsequent IgE responses were markedly suppressed relative to controls. I.p. challenge provoked hemagglutininating antibody (HA) responses to OA in the same animals which were considerably more vigorous than in controls. Adoptive transfer experiments employing splenocytes from mice repeatedly exposed to OA via the respiratory tract revealed the presence of suppressor cells active against OA-specific IgE but not HA responses. Radiotracer studies employing 125I-OA, administered intranasally and by aerosol, indicated that much of the antigen rapidly became associated with the gut.