Inherent Immunizability to Tetanus Toxoid, Based on Studies in Pure Inbred Mice

Abstract

Ten inbred mouse strains from Roscoe B. Jackson Memorial Laboratories were tested for immunity to tetanus toxin after treatment with graded doses of alum-precipitated tetanus toxoid. Some strains required about 0.005 ml toxoid to obtain a given immunity in 14 days, while other strains required a dose of toxoid 10 to 30-fold higher. The former are characterized as having high immunizability, the latter group as having low immunizability. All ten strains required the same median lethal dose of tetanus toxin when not immunized. It is concluded that susceptibility to toxin is distinct from immunizability.