Nephropathy induced in a nephritis-resistant inbred mouse strain with the use of a cationized antigen

C3H/HeN mice produce small amounts of antibody when challenged daily with 4 mg horse spleen apoferritin and fail to develop significant renal histologic and immunohistologic lesions. When the same dose of antigen is given in cationized form, glomerular deposits of both antigen and IgG, often accompanied by C3, are uniformly found in all animals. Thus it appears that cationized antigens can induce the formation of potentially damaging immune complexes in low-antibody-producing individuals that are not ordinarily susceptible to this kind of immune injury.