Regulation of the Immune Response in Neonatal Piglets by Maternal Antibody

Abstract
The ability of maternal antibody to regulate the humoral immune response to sheep erythrocytes and the hapten-carrier conjugate trinitrophenylated sheep erythrocytes (TNP-SRBC) was investigated in neonatal piglets. It was found that in this system, passively acquired maternal antibody would completely inhibit the in vitro primary immune response to SRBC while leaving the response the TNP intact. Data suggest that maternal antibody is regulating the in vitro response at the B-cell level since T-cell helper function to SRBC must not have been inhibited in order for an anti-TNP response to have occurred to TNP-SRBC. The regulation of immune responses by maternal antibody is temporary and disappears before 3 months of age.

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