Comparison of the adjuvant effect on antibody response of three types of carrageenan and the cellular events in the induction of the effect.

The present study was performed in order to demonstrate the adjuvant activity of antibody response of three types of carrageenan (CAR) and the cellular events involved in the adjuvant activity with CAR. CAR-induced enhancing and suppressive effect on primary antibody responses depend greatly on the dose and timing of the injection of the CAR employed. However, neither of these effects were observed in the secondary antibody responses. The maximum adjuvant effect was found when antigen and iota- and lambda-CAR (1 mg) were administered simultaneously to mice, although kappa-CAR did not cause an adjuvant effect. The effect varied with mouse strains tested and the antigen concentration used. It was demonstrated, using athymic nude mice, that the adjuvant effect is independent of T cells. Furthermore, iota- and lambda-CAR polyclonally activated B cells without the help of accessory cells such as macrophages and T cells. This study indicated that the adjuvant effect of CAR is probably independent of macrophages and T cells.