Retention of Antigen in Tissues of Serologically Suppressed Chickens

Abstract

Newly hatched chickens were injected intraperitoneally with 20, 60 and 180 mg of S³⁵-labeled BSA, and the retention of the antigen in various tissues as well as their antibody response to BSA and HGG was determined several weeks later. The amount of antigen retained in the whole chick was estimated to be approximately 0.3% of the originally injected dose when determined 63 days after hatching. The smallness of the amount of antigen retention suggests that the suppression of antibody response is not due to “absorbing out” of the antibody produced. The larger the injection dose at hatching, the larger was the amount of retention, and the larger the amount of retention, the greater was the degree of suppression of antibody response. This relationship suggests that excess antigen retention in antibody forming cells results in suppression of antibody formation. Injection of S³⁵-BSA at hatching did not affect the subsequent antibody response to HGG.