Variation in class-specific humoral immune responses of different mouse strains to microfilariae of Dipetalonema viteae.

The class-specific antibody responses of 3 strains of mice (C57/Bl10, BALB/C and CBA/N) known to vary in their ability to control the microfilaraemia which follows the subcutaneous transplantation of adult female Dipetalonema viteae has been investigated. The 3 mouse strains showed significant variation (a) in total levels of immunoglobulins and (b) in ability to recognize individual radio-isotope-labelled antigens as measured by coprecipitation. Within each mouse strain it was noted that antigens could vary with respect to the nature of the isotype of the antibody response which they elicited. Furthermore, by comparing results obtained from class-specific coprecipitation with surface ELISA it was found that a similar variation between responses to individual epitopes was also likely. No differences were observed in the humoral response of the 3 mouse strains which could explain the known resistance of the C57/Bl10 strain; reasons for this are discussed.