COMPLETE HUMORAL IMMUNOSUPPRESSION OF MICE BY RABBIT ANTI-MU ANTIBODIES PASSING MURINE PLACENTA

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  • 1 January 1977
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 118  (3) , 1109-1112
Abstract
Female BALB/c mice were immunosuppressed with a series of neonatally initiated rabbit anti-.mu. serum injections, which eliminated serum Ig[immunoglobulin]M and greatly delayed production of antibodies against normal rabbit serum (anti-NRS). Females thus prepared maintained circulating anti-.mu. levels for several months. Study of the progeny from prenancies completed during this maintenance period revealed that rabbit anti-.mu. antibodies readily cross the murine placenta but are not passed in murine colostrum at levels detectable by the technique used. Anti-NRS antibodies actively produced in NRS-injected control females do cross the placenta, but do so only irregularly and poorly; these antibodies may be detected consistently at relatively low levels in colostrum. Suppression of humoral immunoglobulin (Ig) synthesis in most mice prenatally exposed to anti-.mu. antibodies by transplacental passage appeared complete, even including loss of the remnant IgG levels which are consistently seen in mice first exposed to anti-.mu. at birth. The appearance of serum IgG and anti-NRS antibodies along with the complete absence of serum IgM in mice recovering from suppression suggests that active IgM synthesis and secretion may not be a prerequisite for the IgM to IgG switch. Immune recovery occurred even in completely immunosuppressed mice after anti-.mu. injections were discontinued; the mechanism of recovery is not certain.

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