Influence of Repeated Administration of Antigen by the Oral Route on Specific Antibody-Producing Cells in the Mouse Spleen

摘要

The administration of sheep red blood cells (SRBC) to conventional BALB/c/Cen mice by the oral or intragastric route was found to cause the appearance in the spleen of plaque-forming cells which predominantly belonged to the IgA class and whose numbers reached a maximum at about day 8 or 9 after the onset of the immunisations course. These features evoke those of a local immune response in the intestinal mucosa and suggest that one is dealing with spleen colonies of locally sensitised mucosal immunocytes. Renewed intragastric administration of SRBC resulted either in a spleen response that was in all points similar to the primary response and in no way suggestive of immunologic memory, or if the second course followed too closely upon the first by a state of splenic unresponsiveness to further intragastric administration of the antigen.