HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Baker, P. J. Articles by Prescott, B. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Baker, P. J. Articles by Prescott, B.

The Basis for Conflicting Results Obtained in Studies on the Plaque-Forming Cell Response to Type III Pneumococcal Polysaccharide

From the Laboratory of Microbial Immunity, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20014

Abstract

Treatment with several preparations of anti-lymphocyte or anti-thymocyte serum (ALS or ATS)¹ has been shown to cause a significant increase (10- to 20-fold) in the magnitude of the plaque-forming cell (PFC) and serum antibody response to Type III pneumococcal polysaccharide (SSS-III) in different strains of mice (1–4); such enhancement is evident with respect to both PFC/10⁶ nucleated spleen cells and PFC/spleen, indicating that it is not due simply to splenomegaly (3). These observations have been confirmed using preparations of ALS and SSS-III, made independently by different methods (5). In all of these studies, sheep erythrocytes, sensitized with purified SSS-III by the CrCl₃ coupling method (6), were used as indicator cells for the detection of PFC making antibody specific for SSS-III. Despite these reproducible findings and their independent confirmation, some investigators have reported that treatment with ALS produces either no change, or a significant reduction in the number of PFC found after immunization with this antigen (7–9); here, sheep erythrocytes, sensitized with uncharacterized filtrates from broth cultures of pneumococci (10), were used as indicator cells in assays for PFC.

Footnotes

¹ Abbreviations used in this paper: ALS, anti-lymphocyte serum; ATS, anti-thymocyte serum; PFC, plaque-forming cell; SSS-III, type III pneumococcal polysaccharide.