Sequential double immunocytochemical staining for in situ identification of an auto-anti-allotype immune response in allotype-suppressed rabbits.
Open Access
- 1 December 1988
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Journal of Histochemistry & Cytochemistry
- Vol. 36 (12), 1455-1461
- https://doi.org/10.1177/36.12.3057069
Abstract
Immunocytochemical staining has been used to detect putative autoimmune B-cells in rabbits undergoing chronic allotype suppression. This condition is seen in heterozygous rabbits exposed perinatally to antibody against the paternal immunoglobulin allotype. Such animals develop lifelong suppression for this allotype and have been used as models for study of antibody-induced disturbance of immune regulation. Normal rabbits deliberately immunized against a heterologous allotype were used to establish the feasibility of identifying cells forming anti-allotypic antibodies in cryostat sections of rabbit lymphoid tissues. Incubation and staining of tissue sections from suppressed rabbits then revealed the presence of autoimmune B-cells, with antibody specificity for the suppressed allotype, in all chronically suppressed adult rabbits tested. Sequential incubation and staining with allotype- and anti-allotype-enzyme conjugates established that such cells were of non-suppressed origin. Auto-anti-allotype antibody-forming cells were not found in normal heterozygotes or in chimeric rabbits. The immunocytochemical techniques described here permitted simultaneous detection of specificity (i.e., anti-allotype) and origin (allotype) of antibody-forming cells involved in an autoimmune response, as well as their anatomical correlation with other B-cells of suppressed or non-suppressed origin. Since the method described can be adapted to detection of alternate cell markers, we believe it to have potential application to the study of other autoimmune phenomena.This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit:
- Suppression of rabbit lymphocyte functions by antibodies specific for allotypic membrane determinantsCellular Immunology, 1984
- Direct immunoenzyme double staining applicable for monoclonal antibodiesHistochemistry and Cell Biology, 1984