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Development of B cells secreting endogenous or transgene-encoded immunoglobulins in H-chain transgenic mice
A Grandien1, A Coutinho, J Andersson
1Department of Immunology, BMC, University of Uppsala, Sweden.
The development of splenic B cells secreting transgene-encoded or endogenous immunoglobulin (Ig) was analysed in the mu heavy (H-)chain transgenic mouse line M54. The results show that cells secreting endogenous Ig are not detectable during the perinatal period, even after lipopolysaccharide stimulation in vitro. At this time, transgene-secreting cells are readily detectable and keep increasing with age of the animals. After a few weeks of age cells secreting endogenous Ig appear in the spleen and keep increasing with age, reaching numbers comparable to non-transgenic littermates by 5 weeks of age. Thereafter, the proportion of transgene-secreting B cells decreases. We conclude that the preferential expression of endogenous Igs by secreting B cells in the adult does not result from peculiar genetic features of those cells, but from age-dependent cellular selection operating on all B cells.
The development of splenic B cells secreting transgene-encoded or endogenous immunoglobulin (Ig) was analysed in the mu heavy (H-)chain transgenic mouse line M54. The results show that cells secreting endogenous Ig are not detectable during the perinatal period, even after lipopolysaccharide stimulation in vitro. At this time, transgene-secreting cells are readily detectable and keep increasing with age of the animals. After a few weeks of age cells secreting endogenous Ig appear in the spleen and keep increasing with age, reaching numbers comparable to non-transgenic littermates by 5 weeks of age. Thereafter, the proportion of transgene-secreting B cells decreases. We conclude that the preferential expression of endogenous Igs by secreting B cells in the adult does not result from peculiar genetic features of those cells, but from age-dependent cellular selection operating on all B cells.