Different handling of antigen by macrophages of low responder C57BL/10ScSn strain and high responder A/J strain of mice. I. Presentation of antigen and induction of helper and suppressor cells.

The SRBC-pulsed peritoneal macrophages from low IgG producing B10 mice were defective in induction of primary as well as secondary antibody responses in (A/J X B10)F1 recipients. This is most probably due to a low number of Ia+ macrophages in the defective B10 mice. Immunization caused a significant increase in numbers of Lyt 2+ cells in spleens of the B10 strain, whereas the percentage of L3T4+ cells remained unchanged. The opposite situation was found in mice of the high responding A/J strain. Simultaneous application of LPS and SRBC prevented the elevated appearance of Lyt 2+ cells in spleens of low responding B10 mice.