Relation of Primary Antigen Injection to Time of Irradiation on Antibody Production in Mice

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Abstract
Summary: Normal (C3H × 101)F1 mice were injected intraperitoneally with 1 ml of 1% sheep red blood cell antigens (RBC) at intervals of from 10 days before to 45 days after exposure to 710 r of x-rays. Antibody response was measured in terms of 1) induction period, 2) rate of appearance of circulating antibody, 3) mean peak titer, 4) time of peak titer, and 5) mean total titer. The immune mechanism was depressed in both the pre- and postirradiation antigen-injection groups. The degree of this inhibition varied for the different criteria of antibody response and was also dependent on the temporal relation of x-irradiation and antigen injection. Maximum immunologic depression occurred in mice receiving antigen 5 min to 1 day after x-irradiation. Although there was a progressive increase in the response to antigen as the interval between x-irradiation and antigen injection was increased, the immune mechanism of irradiated mice never returned to a completely normal status. Converse to the general inhibitory effect of radiation, mice receiving 710 r of x-rays 5 days after antigen injection showed above normal mean peak and mean total agglutinin titers. Irrespective of the temporal relation of x-irradiation and antigen injection, analysis of the data indicates that x-irradiation does not affect the different indices of antibody formation to the same extent.