The Effect of Antibiotics Upon the Immune Response

Abstract

The rate of loss of labelled antigen (I¹³¹ bovine gamma globulin) from blood has been used as a measure of the primary immune response in rabbits. Using this method, standard curves have been set up for normal rabbits and for rabbits in which the immune response has been eliminated by prior x-irradiation. The results agreed with those published by other workers. Rabbits were given daily injections of one of the following antibiotics: crystalline penicillin G (28,000 units/kg), dihydrostreptomycin (50 mg/kg), aureomycin (30 mg/kg), terramycin (29 mg/kg). The loss of I*BGG from the blood of these animals was followed. The mean values for the control vs. the experimental groups were subjected to statistical analysis, using the “F” test. All antibiotics tested produced a depression. For aureomycin, this depression was significant at the 98% confidence level, for dihydrostreptomycin at the 99% level, for terramycin at the 99.8 % level, and for penicillin at the 99.9% level. All rabbits were not affected: some showed no depression, some showed partial depression, while others were completely depressed.