Restricted heterogeneity of antibody synthesized by T-cell deprived mice.

Mice which had been thymectomized and injected with anti-thymocyte serum to remove long-lived recirculating T cells, initially failed to produce haemagglutinating and haemolysing antibody after injection of sheep erythrocytes. After six fortnightly injections of heterologous erythrocytes, however, haemolysin titres in the T-cell deprived mice were comparable to those in similarly challenged but immunologically intact animals. Isoelectric focusing of these sera indicated that the anti-sheep erythrocyte antibody eventually synthesized by the T-cell deprived mice was less heterogeneous than antibodies found in the sera of control mice.