Induction of hapten-specific immunological tolerance and immunity in B lymphocytes. VII. Correlation between trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid administration, serum trinitrophenyl content, and level of tolerance.

The induction of immunological tolerance with trinitrobenzenesulfonic acid (TNBS) was studied by a comparison of the concentration of trinitrophenyl (TNP) in the serum of tolerant mice (TolS) and the degree of unresponsiveness induced as the dose and time of tolerogen injection were varied. The concentration of TNP in TolS was greater with a larger dose of TNBS, as expected, and decreased with time after tolerogen injection in a biphasic manner. The rapid initial decline followed on Day 10 by a more gradual decrease in TNP concentration suggests that there were two classes of TNP conjugates produced by TNBS injection. The serum TNP concentration appeared to correlate to the in vivo response of TNBS-treated mice to thymic-dependent and thymic-independent antigenic challenge while little correlation was evident with the in vitro response.