Development of Reaginic Antibody-Forming Cells in the Spleen and Bone Marrow of Immunized Mice

Abstract

In a recent communication (1) we described a method, heterologous adoptive cutaneous anaphylaxis (HACA),2 for the detection of reaginic antibody-forming cells (RAFC). Spleen, bone marrow, or lymph node cells taken from immunized CBA mice 28 and 56 days after immunization were transferred to the skin of rats. Twenty-four hours later the rats were challenged with antigen and Evans blue dye and a blue area appeared within minutes at the site of deposition of mouse cells. Since mouse IgG1 antibody will fix to mouse but not to rat mast cells (2), one can feel confident that HACA detects only reaginic antibody formation (1). We now report the optimal conditions for HACA as well as the development of RAFC in the spleen and bone marrow of a moderate (SWR) and a poor (SJL) reagin-producing strain of mice from 3 to 61 days post-immunization. Levine (3) has proposed two kinds of genetic control of reagin production in mice.