A STRAIN SURVEY OF AGE‐DEPENDENT CHANGES IN ANTIGEN ELIMINATION, ANTIBODY FORMATION AND TOLERANCE

Abstract

A strain survey has been undertaken to examine polymorphism of age-dependent changes in antigen elimination, immune responsiveness and tolerance inducibility. In young mice of tested strains, other than C57BL/6J, aggregate-freed mouse Ig was eliminated faster than was the xenogeneic Ig (RGG); C57BL/6J was the only exception. The rate of elimination increased with age in all strains, tested. Antibody formation to RGG decreased in 3 (BALB/cJ, 129/J, DBA/2J) out of the eleven strains tested at 5-7 and 31-40 weeks of age; there was a considerable strain variation in the extent of this decrease. Age-dependent resistance to tolerance induction was observed in a fraction of animals of H-2 haplotypes, H-2^k and H-2^d.