Ontogeny of B-lymphocyte function. XIV. Maturation of the capacity of B cells to re-express surface immunoglobulin after treatment with anti-immunoglobulin.
The maturation of the ability of the B-cell population to re-express surface immunoglobulin (sIg) after its removal by treatment with rabbit anti-mouse immunoglobulin (RAMIg) was studied in LAF1, C57BL/6, and C57L mice. As demonstrated by previous workers, the B-cell population from immature mice failed to re-express sIg after treatment with RAMIg. We have shown that the age at which the B-cell population acquires the capacity to re-express sIg is different in different strains and that the order in which the B-cell population of the different strains acquires the capacity to re-express sIg is different from the order in which their B-cell populations acquire the capacity to produce high-affinity antibodies. This suggests that these represent distinct differentiation events in the development of the B-cell population. In all of the strains studied the maturation of the capacity to re-express sIg occurred in two steps. After the first maturation step the B-cell population was able to re-express sIg after treatment with RAMIg for 1 hr but did not re-express sIg after treatment with RAMIg for 24 hr. After the second maturation step the B-cell population could re-express sIg even after 24 hr treatment with RAMIg. It has been suggested by previous workers that the inability of the immature B-cell population to re-express sIg could represent one of the mechanisms responsible for the development of B-cell self-tolerance. It is suggested here that the existence of a period during which cells become tolerant only upon prolonged exposure to antigen could protect the developing B cells from becoming unresponsive to transiently experienced foreign antigens but still permit them to become tolerant to self antigens which are continuously present.
D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D000888:Antibodies, Anti-Idiotypic / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006128:Growth; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D011247:Pregnancy; D011947:Receptors, Antigen, B-Cell / Q000032:analysis*; D013045:Species Specificity
D000888:Antibodies, Anti-Idiotypic; D011947:Receptors, Antigen, B-Cell