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The Early Immune Response and Immunoglobulins of Opossum Embryos^1,2,

From the Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104

Abstract

The immune responses of developing opossoms were studied after one or two injections of bacteriophage f2. Antibodies could be detected in serum of developing opossums as early as 7 days after immunization and peak antibody responses were reached 14 or more days after immunization. A second injection of antigen usually increased the level of serum antibodies only slightly. The antibodies of these embryos were further studied by sucrose density gradient centrifugation. The earliest antibodies appeared as 13S "embryonic" antibodies localized between 19 and 7S positions in the sucrose density gradients. IgM antibodies appeared later as the embryonic antibodies decreased. IgG antibodies were never prominent and were the last to appear in measurable amounts during development.

Footnotes

¹ This work was supported by United States Public Health Service Grants AM-14372 and HE 13931.

² Presented in part at a colloquium honoring Dr. Edward A. Gall, Chairman, Department of Pathology, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.