Early antibody-forming cells of double specificity.

Abstract

Simultaneous immunization of mice with sheep and pigeon erythrocytes results in multiplication not only of spleen cells capable of specifically agglutinating on their surface one or other of these antigens, but of spleen cells agglutinating both kinds of erythrocytes. These latter cells only appear on the 3rd day following immunization and tend to disappear after the 10th day. Their peak number is reached on the 5th day, when more than 10 per cent of the specific cells show double specificity. When sheep erythrocytes are given 1 or 3 days before pigeon erythrocytes, the cells showing double specificity appear and disappear earlier after injection of the second antigen. These kinetics and those of the corresponding haemagglutinins suggest that such cells simultaneously synthesize antibodies of two different specificities.