Summary
Guinea pigs immunized with 50 µg of 2,4-dinitrophenyl-bovine serum albumin (DNP-BSA) exhibit a marked increase in affinity of serum anti-hapten antibody between 2 weeks and 2 months after immunization associated with a modest fall in serum anti-DNP antibody concentration. On the other hand, guinea pigs immunized with 1 mg of DNP-BSA display little or no increase in affinity of serum antihapten antibody together with a marked fall in antibody concentration over the same time period. The selective induction of tolerance in cells capable of producing high affinity antibody upon immunization with large doses of antigen is proposed as an explanation for these observations and as one factor involved in the control of antibody synthesis. Furthermore, it is proposed that tolerance induction involves a thermodynamically driven step consisting of the binding of antigen to cell associated antibody.
Footnotes
This study was supported by United States Public Health Service Research Grants AI-2094 and AM-08805 and by the Health Research Council of the City of New York under Contracts I-138 and I-464.
Computer facilities of the Section on Communication Sciences, Department of Neurosurgery, New York University Medical Center made use of in this study were supported by United States Public Health Service Research Grant FR-00331-01A1.
