Radiosensitivity of antibody responses and radioresistant secondary tetanus antitoxin responses
Primary tetanus antitoxin responses were increasingly repressed in mice when gamma radiation doses of 100 to 400 rads were delivered by whole-body exposure prior to immunization with fluid tetanus toxoid (FTT). Nearly normal secondary antitoxin responses were obtained in mice exposed to 600 rads of gamma radiation 4 days after secondary antigenic stimulation with FTT. A rapid transition from radiosensitivity of the antibody-forming system on days 1 to 3 was followed by relative radioresistance on day 4 after the booster injection of toxoid. Studies on lymphoid cellular kinetics in popliteal lymph nodes after injection of $sup 3$H--thymidine ($sup 3$H--TdR) and incorporation of $sup 3$H--L- histidine into circulating antitoxin were carried out. Analysis of tritium radioactivity in antigen--antibody precipitates of serums 2 hr after injection of the labeled amino acid revealed maximum incorporation into antibody around day 7 after the booster in nonirradiated controls and about day 12, i.e., 8 days after irradiation, in experimental mice. The shift from radiosensitivity to relative radioresistance was attributed to a marked peak of plasma-cell proliferation in the medulla of lymph nodes on day 3. Many medullary plasma cells survived and continued to proliferate after exposure to radiation. Germinal centers were destroyed by radiation within 1 day. Since antibody formation continued after exposure to radiation and after the loss of germinal centers, this supports the view that germinal-center cells were involved more in the generation of memory cells than in antibody synthesis. (auth)
- Research Organization:
- Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY; Battelle Pacific Northwest Labs., Richland, Wash. (USA); USAEC Division of Biomedical and Environmental Research, Washington, D.C.
- NSA Number:
- NSA-33-023513
- OSTI ID:
- 4061465
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-740930--
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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