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. 1974 Apr;26(4):845–853.

Antigen-induced suppression of agglutinins following the repeated high dose administration of bacteria (Pseudomonas species) at various ages

G Gowland
PMCID: PMC1423169  PMID: 4850604

Abstract

Rabbits ranging from newborn to 24 weeks old were injected repeatedly with 109 intact Gram-negative bacterial cells (Pseudomonas N.C.M.B. 406) either intraperitoneally or intravenously. Intraperitoneal antigen evoked a similar response in all age groups; average titres after 7 weeks immunization being of the order of 200,000. Intravenous antigen induced marked suppression of agglutinins in newborn and 3-week-old animals. The two older age groups initially showed elevated titres which declined as further doses of antigen induced immunosuppression.

The nature of the suppression of agglutinins was investigated in 3-week-old rabbits. The phenomenon showed all the characteristics of specific high dose antigen-induced suppression of reactivity. This brings the intact bacterial cell firmly into line with other antigens as far as high dose tolerance or antigen-induced immunosuppression is concerned. It is suggested that the suppression of agglutinins observed in these experiments might best be explained on the basis of immunological exhaustion aided by specific absorption of antibody by antigen at certain stages.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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