Studies on immune responses to parasite antigens in mice. II. Aspects of the T cell dependence of circulating reagin production to Ascaris suum antigens.

Heat-labile, rat skin-fixing antibodies were detected readily in the sera of young female mice dosed intranasally with the body fluid of Ascaris suum (ABF) and the adjuvant, Bordetella pertussis vaccine (BPV). In addition, washed cell suspensions prepared from spleen and the lymph nodes regional to the lungs were positive in an adoptive cutaneous anaphylaxis assay, an assay which may detect activities of reagins associated with mast cells rather than reaginic antibody-secreting cells. The intraperitoneal route was a poor means of inducing circulating anti-ABF reagins and an intraperitoneal injection of ABF + BPV delayed the appearance of circulating reagins in mice dosed at the same time with ABF + BPV intranasally. Hypothymic female BALB/c. nu/nu ('nude') mice failed to produce circulating reagins to ABF but an injection of normal thymocytes or cortisone-resistant thymocytes from syngeneic female mice led to higher titers of circulating reagins than found in normal female BALB/c. nu/+ littermates. Using cells from young male or female syngeneic donors and male and female BALB/c. nu/mu recpiients, evidence was obtained for a defect in the thymus of young male mice and conceivably this defect may extend to the peripheral T cell population in such mice. Cyclophosphamide pretreatment or adrenalectomy increased circulating reagin titers in normal mice dosed intranasally with ABF + BPV, and pretreatment with lipopolysaccharide intranasally markedly reduced titers of circulating anti-ABF reagins. In the discussion, emphasis is given to the hypothesis that potent allergens are T cell-stimulating, relatively persistent antigens which, when located in submucosal lymphoid sites and under conditions of limited antibody production as a result of limited recruitment of 'helper' T cells systemically, lead to the induction and sustained production of IgE by resident Bxi cells and their progeny.