A comparison of anti-type II collagen antibody titres and isotype profiles in pregnant and virgin DBA/1 mice with collagen-induced arthritis.
In order to discover whether changes in the nature of the humoral response to type II collagen occur during pregnancy we compared, by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), the anti-type II collagen antibody titres and isotype profiles of pregnant and virgin DBA/1 mice immunized with type II collagen. Significant reductions in the mean clinical scores and anti-collagen antibody titres were observed during late pregnancy. Titres of all of the anti-collagen isotypes tended to be lower in pregnant than non-pregnant mice, although only in the case of IgG3 was there a significant difference between the two groups. We conclude that while pregnancy may cause changes to the isotype distribution of anti-collagen antibodies it is not possible on the basis of this study to relate such changes to the remission of arthritis observed during pregnancy.
AFRC Institute of Animal Physiology and Genetics Research, Babraham, Cambridge, U.K.
R O
RO
Williams
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A
Whyte
D000818:Animals; D001168:Arthritis / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000276:immunology*; D003094:Collagen / Q000276:immunology*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D007114:Immunization; D007132:Immunoglobulin Isotypes / Q000032:analysis; D051379:Mice; D008811:Mice, Inbred DBA; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000276:immunology*
D007132:Immunoglobulin Isotypes; D003094:Collagen