STUDIES ON B-CELL MEMORY .1. GENERATION AND EXHAUSTION OF B-CELL MEMORY BY THYMUS-DEPENDENT ANTIGEN IN T-CELL DEPLETED MICE

  • 1 January 1979
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 38  (2) , 283-289
Abstract
Mice depleted of T [thymus-derived] cells by adult thymectomy, X-irradiation and reconstitution with syngeneic bone marrow cells untreated or treated with anti-Thy-1 serum and complement were immunized intensively with alum-precipitated bovine serum albumin (AP-BSA) with or without bacterial [Escherichia coli] lipopolysaccharide (LPS) but no significant anti-BSA antibody response was detected. Priming of the T[thymus-derived]-cell depleted mice by a single injection of AP-BSA plus LPS or by multiple injections of AP-BSA without LPS resulted in the generation of immunological memory. A single injection of AP-BSA without LPS was ineffective. The memory required the aid of syngeneic T cells to be recalled by the challenge with AP-BSA plus LPS. Multiple injections of AP-BSA plus LPS did not cause the generation of memory and the response of these mice to the challenge was lower than that of unprimed control mice. The anti-BSA response may be highly dependent on the helper function of T cells. The degree of T cell requirement for the memory generation may be very low. Priming with too much strong stimulation in the absence of functional T cells leads to the suppression or abortion of previously generated immunological memory.