[Histamine receptor-bearing lymphocytes. VII. Antibody formation and graft-vs-host reaction from spleen cells after separation on histamine affinity columns].

Histamine-ovalbumin conjugates were characterized in respect to the relative amount of histamine residues which are accessible to membrane receptors. These conjugates were bound to a protein carrier. Spleen cells exhibited an enhanced reactivity in the adoptive antibody production as well as the graft versus host reaction after filtration through affinity columns with a low density of histamine residues. Contrary to that, the use of affinity columns with high histamine density led to a reduced immunoreactivity of the nonadherent cells. Consequently, controversial literature data concerning this problem seem to be based on methodological differences. The results support the hypothesis, that suppressor cells carry more histamine receptors than other immunoreactive cells.