Induction of immunoglobulin allotypic suppression in the rabbit: a cellular approach

Adult rabbits were sensitized against rabbit immunoglobulin allotypic specificities of the a and b series by means of two injections of their own lymphocytes coated with the appropriate IgG. The splenic lymphocytes from these sensitized rabbits were injected, 24 hr after birth, into newborns that had inherited from their father the allotypic specificities susceptible to recognition by the sensitized lymphocytes. A significant percentage (40%) of the young rabbits subjected to this treatment developed a total suppression of expression of these specificities with the well-known compensatory effect due to an increased expression of the corresponding allele. We have observed that the T Julius subset of the sensitized splenic lymphocytes was responsible for the induction of this suppression that was established without discernible intervention of anti-allotype antibodies. In one instance we observed that the expression of the allotypic specificities transmitted by the father, although established at 5 weeks of age, gradually declined and totally disappeared at 13 weeks of age.