The induction of chronic antigen-antibody complex disease in selectively bred mice producing either high or low affinity antibody to protein antigens.

Mice selectively bred to produce either high or low affinity antibody to protein antigens were injected daily with bovine serum albumin (BSA) and studied for the development of chronic antigen-antibody complex disease. After 41-44 injections of BSA, evidence of circulating antigen-antibody complexes and renal localization of complexes was obtained in both lines. However, low affinity mice had significantly higher levels of circulating complexes than high affinity mice. Impairment of renal function was seen in low affinity mice but not in high affinity mice and there was significantly more complex deposition in the glomeruli of low compared to high affinity mice. Furthermore, the pattern of localization of complexes was predominantly mesangial in high affinity mice but in low affinity mice the deposition was both mesangial and in the glomerular basement membrane. The role of antibody affinity in the induction of chronic antigen-antibody complex disease is discussed in the light of these results.