Genetic studies in inbred rats. VIII. The production of xenoantisera against Ag-B histocompatibility antigens.

Rabbit anti-rat xenoantisera were raised by intravenous injection of splenic lymphocytes. After absorption with the appropriate rat red blood cells for removal of 'species-specific' antibodies, many agglutinating specificities remained which were quite similar to the corresponding alloantisera with the exception of the Ag-B5 haplotype. In attempts to produce specific Ag-B xeno-antisera, two groups of histocompatibility antigens were discovered: one consisting of Ag-B1, Ag-B3, Ag-B4, Ag-B7 and Ag-B8 to which specific Ag-B antisera could be produced, and another comprised of Ag-B2, Ag-B5 and Ag-B6 to which specific Ag-B antisera could not be made by any of several methods. Xenoantisera produced by a rapid hyperimmunization technique and all alloantisera tested were cytotoxic, whereas no cytotoxic antibodies could be detected in the xenoantisera produced by a longer course of immunization.