Skip to main content
PMC home page
The Journal of Experimental Medicine logoLink to The Journal of Experimental Medicine
. 1961 Jul 1;114(1):111–125. doi: 10.1084/jem.114.1.111

THE IMMUNE RESPONSE OF RABBITS TOLERANT TO BOVINE SERUM ALBUMIN TO THE INJECTION OF OTHER HETEROLOGOUS SERUM ALBUMINS

William O Weigle 1
PMCID: PMC2137445  PMID: 13783813

Abstract

Immunological tolerance produced in rabbits by neonatal injections of BSA can be terminated by a series of injections of certain heterologous serum albumins which cross-react with BSA. Injections of albumins distantly related to BSA were more effective in terminating the tolerant state than injections of albumins closely related to BSA. It was concluded from results obtained with several heterologous albumins that immunological tolerance to BSA is directed to both the over-all antigenic or physical-chemical composition of the protein and the individual determinant groups present on the protein. Several possible mechanisms were given to explain the ability of cross-reacting albumins to terminate the tolerant state of BSA-tolerant rabbits. A possible relationship between the termination of tolerance in BSA-tolerant rabbits injected with cross-reacting albumins and autoimmunily was discussed. It was also suggested that the relative ease with which tolerance could be established to heterologous serum proteins in comparison to bacterial antigens is the result of the close serological and physical-chemical relationship of the heterologous serum proteins to the serum proteins of the rabbit. Rabbits injected with 500 mg of BSA during the first 5 days of life failed to form antibody capable of either eliciting an immune elimination of an injection of I* BSA given 3 to 4 months later or complexing with the circulating I* BSA.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (789.7 KB).

Selected References

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

  1. CSIZMAS L. Preparation of formalinized erythrocytes. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med. 1960 Jan;103:157–160. doi: 10.3181/00379727-103-25444. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. CURTAIN C. C. The use of acquired immunological tolerance and immunological paralysis in the study of the antigenic relationships of normal and abnormal serum globulins. Br J Exp Pathol. 1959 Jun;40(3):255–262. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. DENHARDT D. T., OWEN R. D. The resistance of the tolerant state to x-irradiation. Plast Reconstr Surg Transplant Bull. 1960 Apr;25:394–399. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. DIXON F. J., MAUER P. H. Immunologic unresponsiveness induced by protein antigens. J Exp Med. 1955 Mar 1;101(3):245–257. doi: 10.1084/jem.101.3.245. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. DOWNE A. E. Inhibition of the production of precipitating antibodies in young rabbits. Nature. 1955 Oct 15;176(4485):740–741. doi: 10.1038/176740a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. FARR R. S. A quantitative immunochemical measure of the primary interaction between I BSA and antibody. J Infect Dis. 1958 Nov-Dec;103(3):239–262. doi: 10.1093/infdis/103.3.239. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. HANAN R., GERMUTH F. G., Jr A note on the failure of rabbits to develop hypersensitivity during maturity when previously exposed to the antigen at an early age. Bull Johns Hopkins Hosp. 1955 Apr;96(4):140–145. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. HANAN R., OYAMA J. Inhibition of antibody formation in mature rabbits by contact with the antigen at an early age. J Immunol. 1954 Jul;73(1):49–53. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. HELLER P., YAKULIS V. J. Antigenicity of connective tissue extracts. II. Stimulation of auto-and iso-antibodies by heterologous antigen. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med. 1960 Aug-Sep;104:590–594. doi: 10.3181/00379727-104-25917. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. MAURER P. H. The cross reactions between albumins of different species and gamma globulins of different species. J Immunol. 1954 Feb;72(2):119–122. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. NAYLOR G. R., ADAIR M. E. Studies of anti-horse crystalbumin sera. IV. The influence of absorption with a heterologous antigen on reactions with the homologous and with a second heterologous antigen. J Immunol. 1957 Aug;79(2):130–135. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. SMITH R. T., BRIDGES R. A. Immunological unresponsiveness in rabbits produced by neonatal injection of defined antigens. J Exp Med. 1958 Aug 1;108(2):227–250. doi: 10.1084/jem.108.2.227. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. STEVENS K. M., PIETRYK H. C., CIMINERA J. L. Acquired immunological tolerance to a protein antigen in chickens. Br J Exp Pathol. 1958 Feb;39(1):1–7. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. TALMAGE D. W., MAURER P. H. I131-Labelled antigen precipitation as a measure of quantity and quality of antibody. J Infect Dis. 1953 May-Jun;92(3):288–300. doi: 10.1093/infdis/92.3.288. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. TEMPELIS C. H., WOLFE H. R., MUELLER A. P. The effect of dosage and time of injection of a soluble antigen on the production of immunological unresponsiveness in chickens. Br J Exp Pathol. 1958 Jun;39(3):328–333. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. TEMPELIS C. H., WOLFE H. R., MUELLER A. The production of immunological unresponsiveness by the intravenous injection of bovine serum albumin into the chick embryo. Br J Exp Pathol. 1958 Jun;39(3):323–327. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. TEMPELIS C., WOLFE H. R. Antibody production in chickens following injections of embryos with bovine serum albumin. Transplant Bull. 1958 Jan;5(1):23–24. doi: 10.1097/00007890-195801000-00010. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. TERRES G., HUGHES W. L. Acquired immune tolerance in mice to crystalline bovine serum albumin. J Immunol. 1959 Nov;83:459–467. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. WEIGLE W. O., DIXON F. J. Elimination of heterologous proteins from blood of normal, x-radiated and tolerant rabbits. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med. 1958 Jun;98(2):213–215. doi: 10.3181/00379727-98-23994. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. WEIGLE W. O., DIXON F. J. The antibody response of lymph node cells transferred to tolerant recipients. J Immunol. 1959 Jun;82(6):516–519. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. WEIGLE W. O. The nature of antigen-antibody complexes formed in rabbits during an immune response to bovine serum albumin. J Exp Med. 1958 May 1;107(5):653–663. doi: 10.1084/jem.107.5.653. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. WOLFE H. R., TEMPELIS C., MUELLER A., REIBEL S. Precipitin production in chickens. XVIL The effect of massive injections of bovine serum albumin at hatching on subsequent antibody production. J Immunol. 1957 Aug;79(2):147–153. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from The Journal of Experimental Medicine are provided here courtesy of The Rockefeller University Press

RESOURCES