Antibody formation by adoptively transferred mouse peripheral blood leucocytes.

Peripheral blood leucocytes from C3H mice that had been injected intraperitoneally with bovine serum albumin in Freund's adjuvant were transferred to irradiated, syngeneic recipients. Determination of bovine serum albumin antibody titres in the recipients showed that as the time between immunization and transfer increased, fewer peripheral blood leucocytes were needed to produce appreciable amounts of antibody. Secondary stimulation of the donor mice before transfer with aqueous bovine serum albumin resulted in greater antibody synthesis in the recipient. When the peripheral blood leucocytes from mice immunized with bovine serum albumin were mixed with 0.1 mg of the antigen and the mixture injected into recipients no detectable antibody was produced. An booster of 0.05 mg bovine serum albumin resulted in greatly increased amounts of antibody when compared to peripheral blood leucocytes transferred without added antigen.