Carter B G, Rector E S
J Immunol. 1976 Jan;116(1):218-22.
The relationship between the antigen processing or accessory cell system and the maturation, with age, of antibody-producing capability was investigated in the mouse. This was done by analyzing the antibody responses given by immunocompetent cells from neonatal and from adult male mice in an identical antigen-processing system environment. Specifically, 4 x 10(7) normal spleen cells from either 12-day-old or adult mice were challenged with varying numbers of SRC in adult irradiated syngeneic recipients. The subsequent IgM and IgG2a PFC responses for both age groups were analyzed in terms of antigen dose-antibody response curves. Analyses of these curves indicate: 1) the dose of antigen required to elicit the optimal antibody response is essentially identical for both age groups and (2) the bandwidths obtained using neonatal donors are significantly narrower than those obtained with adult donors. Whereas, intact neonatal and adult mice exhibit differences in antigen optimal doses, these differences are eliminated when the immunocompetent cells are stimulated in the presence of identical antigen-processing systems. It is concluded that maturation of the antigen-processing system results in an increased sensitivity to antigen. Examination of the bandwidths of the dose-response curves revealed that immunocompetent cells from the young mice, either in situ or in adult irradiated recipients exhibited narrower bandwidths than did their adult counter parts. Thus, the increase in bandwidth observed with age is attributed to changes in the population of immunocompetent cells--perhaps a reflection of increased diversity, and is not due to the antigen-processing system. Quantitation of the antigen-processing function using accessory cell-depleted and partially restored mice indicated that when IgG responses were compared a higher frequency of accessory cells was demonstrated in adultspleens as opposed to neonatal spleens.
在小鼠中研究了抗原加工或辅助细胞系统与抗体产生能力随年龄的成熟之间的关系。这是通过在相同的抗原加工系统环境中分析新生小鼠和成年雄性小鼠的免疫活性细胞产生的抗体反应来完成的。具体而言，将来自12日龄或成年小鼠的4×10⁷个正常脾细胞，用不同数量的绵羊红细胞（SRC）攻击成年受照射的同基因受体。随后根据抗原剂量-抗体反应曲线分析两个年龄组的IgM和IgG2a空斑形成细胞（PFC）反应。对这些曲线的分析表明：1）引发最佳抗体反应所需的抗原剂量，两个年龄组基本相同；2）使用新生供体获得的带宽明显窄于成年供体获得的带宽。虽然完整的新生小鼠和成年小鼠在抗原最佳剂量上存在差异，但当免疫活性细胞在相同的抗原加工系统存在下受到刺激时，这些差异就消除了。得出的结论是，抗原加工系统的成熟导致对抗原的敏感性增加。对剂量反应曲线带宽的检查显示，来自幼鼠的免疫活性细胞，无论是原位的还是在成年受照射受体中的，其带宽都比成年对应细胞窄。因此，观察到的随年龄增长带宽的增加归因于免疫活性细胞群体的变化——可能反映了多样性的增加，而不是由于抗原加工系统。使用辅助细胞耗尽和部分恢复的小鼠对抗原加工功能进行定量分析表明，当比较IgG反应时，成年脾脏中辅助细胞的频率高于新生脾脏。
