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An improved adoptive transfer procedure has been developed for the thymus-independent conjugate TNP-LPS. This technique involving delayed immunization results in increased sensivity and makes possible studies of various cell types, the response of which is normally very low or which are difficult to manipulate experimentally in situ. The standard adoptive immune response of adult spleen cells to TNP-LPS was low in comparison to the primary AFC response of intact mice. Adult bone marrow cells gave a 30-fold lower and neonatal spleen cells an 8-fold lower adoptive response than an equivalent number of adult spleen cells. If the administration of antigen was delayed past the normal time of immunization (1 hr after cell transfer), the resulting AFC response of adult spleen, adult bone marrow, and neonatal cells was enhanced. The peak response occurred with a delay interval of 4 days, and the magnitude decreased with greater delay. Part of the reason for the decline was an acceleration in the attainment of a peak response in mice given antigen past the 4-day optimum. The enhancement of the adult splenic response was not restricted to the antigen TNP-LPS, and was a transferrable phenomenon which did not require antigen to persist past the 4-day optimum delay period. The ineffectiveness of host pre-irradiation indicated that host recovery alone was not involved. Although the results are more compatible with B cell proliferation causing the enhancement, a combination of effects may be involved.

The induction of immunological tolerance with trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid (TNBS) was studied by a comparison of the concentration of trinitrophenyl (TNP) in the serum of tolerant mice (TolS) and the degree of unresponsiveness induced as the dose and time of tolerogen injection were varied. The concentration of TNP in TolS was greater with a larger dose of TNBS, as expected, and decreased with time after tolerogen injection in a biphasic manner. The rapid initial decline followed on Day 10 by a more gradual decrease in TNP concentration suggests that there were two classes of TNP conjugates produced by TNBS injection. The serum TNP concentration appeared to correlate to the in vivo response of TNBS-treated mice to thymic-dependent and thymic-independent antigenic challenge while little correlation was evident with the in vitro response.

The maturation level of the B-lymphocyte subpopulations involved in trinitrophenyl (TNP)-specific immunological tolerance in adult mice induced by the injection of trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid (TNBS) was investigated using in vitro antigen-specific and nonspecific polyclonal stimulation. The maturity of the B-cell subsets being studied was defined by the antigen or polyclonal activator which evoked a response. Thus, the thymic independent (TI-1) antigen TNP-lipopolysaccharide (TNP-LPS) and the polyclonal stimulant LPS were used to activate immature, neonatal-type B lymphocytes, whereas mature, adult-type B cells were responsive to the TI-2 antigen, TNP-Ficoll, and the nonspecific activator, purified protein derivative (PPD). Whereas unresponsiveness in TNP-LPS-reactive (immature) B cells 4 d after TNBS treatment was previously shown to be the result of functional deletion, partially reversible receptor blockade was detected in this study early after tolerogen treatment. By the 24-h point, tolerance was irreversible, as assessed by 24-h of antigen-free incubation and cocultivation of tolerant cells with control splenocytes. Tolerance was induced more rapidly in immature, TI-1 B cells than in mature TI-2 B lymphocytes. B lymphocytes reactive to TNP-Ficoll were also less susceptible to receptor blockade. Using LPS as a nonspecific probe for immature B cells, 60% tolerance in high affinity TNP-specific cells was induced within 12 h of TNBS treatment, and complete unresponsiveness by 24 h. In contrast, no significant decrease in response to the mature B-cell activator, PPD, occurred until day 2. Furthermore, the 50% tolerance level was achieved in TNP-specific LPS-reactive B cells by 100 times less tolerogen than required for PPD-responsive cells. Thus, TNBS-induced unresponsiveness in cells reactive to TNP-LPS is initially a result of reversible receptor blockade which leads within 4 d to functional deletion. Immature, TI-1 B lymphocytes, which give polyclonal responses to LPS and antigen-specific responses to TNP-LPS, are rendered tolerant to TNBS more rapidly and at lower tolerogen does than mature, TI-2 mouse B cells which react polyclonally to PPD and specifically to TNP-Ficoll. Moreover, these data show that both the immature and the mature B lymphocyts with these characteristic tolerance susceptibilities and specific and nonspecific immune response patterns are present in the adult mouse spleen.

Treatment of mice with a nonimmunogenic preparation of free reactive hapten, trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS), leads to the induction of a state of tolerance to the hapten, 2,4,6-trinitrophenyl (TNP). This is determined by the lack of response to the haptenic moiety in an immunogenic hapten-carrier conjugate (TNP-SRBC) as assayed both by serum antibody titrations and the hemolytic plaque assay. The tolerance produced is specific for the hapten, since the anticarrier responses are essentially unaltered compared with the control values. The unresponsiveness induced by TNBS treatment is a dose-dependent phenomenon, becoming less complete at lower doses of TNBS. The tolerance is of a definite length, both in its induction phase and in the duration of the established unresponsive state. Tolerance can be maintained and extended, and may also be reentered once escape has been initiated.