Physiology of IgD. III. Effect of treatment with anti-IgD from birth on the magnitude and isotype distribution of the immune response in the spleen.

Continued treatment with monoclonal anti-IgD (Ig-5a) from birth in BALB/c mice causes a markedly increased responsiveness to i.v. injected dinitrophenylated ovalbumin (DNP-OVA) with Bordetella pertussis at the age of 8 weeks. The 19S plaque-forming cell (PFC)/spleen response is particularly enhanced, 6-8-fold, but all the other isotypes also show increases of 2-6-fold, including IgA and IgE. Both primary and secondary PFC responses and serum antibody titers are enhanced. After transfer of spleen cells from anti-Ig-treated mice to irradiated recipients the IgM/IgG ratio becomes similar to that of controls. In contrast, the response of anti-IgD-treated mice to i.p. immunization with either 0.2 or 100 micrograms DNP-OVA plus alum is reduced by approximately 80% for each Ig isotype except IgM and remains low upon transfer of spleen cells to recipients. It is concluded that the paucity of B cells in peripheral lymph nodes of the anti-IgD-treated mice causes the low responsiveness to i.p. immunization, but that the IgD- B cells in the spleen are quite able to respond and are, in fact, more responsive than IgD+ B cells. This increased responsiveness, together with the higher IgM/IgG ratios for all Ig isotypes and an otherwise similar order of isotype distribution (gamma 1 greater than gamma 2b greater than gamma 2a = epsilon greater than or equal to alpha) as in controls, suggests that a hyperresponsive, but less mature IgD- B cell population is selectively produced in the spleens of mice treated with anti-IgD from birth.