title: Dynamics of a class of immune networks. II. Oscillatory activity of cellular and humoral components.
abstract: Simulations show that for a certain range of its free parameters, a model of the immune network including both cellular and humoral components is capable of self-sustained oscillations. The model also possesses a number of fixed points which appear to be unstable. These results, taken together, suggest the hypothesis that the immune network may be able to sustain a non-degenerate diversity of active clones which are actively connected to each other only on condition that the activities of these clones are oscillatory.
authors.affiliation: Unité Immunobiologie, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stewart
authors.forename: F J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Varela
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000917:Antibody Formation / Q000502:physiology; D002999:Clone Cells / Q000276:immunology; D007107:Immune System / Q000502:physiology*; D007111:Immunity, Cellular / Q000502:physiology; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D008954:Models, Biological; D010507:Periodicity