ANTIGENS IN IMMUNITY

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Abstract
Summary: A wide range of soluble and particulate substances were iodinated and injected into rats. Some preparations were classical antigens; others were heterologous proteins of minimal antigenicity; and others were homologous substances believed to be non‐antigenic.It was found that all antigens showed a tendency to concentrate in lymphoid follicles, as well as in medullary macrophages. Non‐antigens were taken up to a varying extent by cells in the medulla, but did not localize in lymphoid follicles. The only exception to this rule was rat gamma globulin. In view of the role of globulins in tbe opsonization of particulars antigens, this exception seemed especially significant, The study suggested that the phagocytic cells in lymphoid follicles possessed the capacity to “recognize foreignness”, and the possibility exists that this is mediated by opsonic factors, rather than being an inherent property of the cells.The localization pattern of iodinated flagellin, and the cellular changes induced by it, were carefully compared with those of equivalent doses nf flagella. The differences in localization were relatively slight, yet the cellular changes typical of the immune response occurred 10–14 days later with flagellin than with flagella. It is unlikely that this delay was due to the chemical differences between the antigens, as polymerized flagellin behaved more like flagella. It appears that a particulate antigen entering a follicular macrophage may cause the more dramatic appearance of plasma cell precursors around it, and the earlier formation of 19S antibodies, but the reasons for this are not clear.

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