The materno-foetal transfer of carrier protein sensitivity in the mouse.

The anti-dinitrophenol (DNP) antibody response was examined in the 18-week-old offspring of female mice primed to bovine serum albumin (BSA) and in control unprimed animals. Comparisons were made of the response to DNP-BSA, DNP-chicken gamma-globulin (CGG) and DNP-purified protein derivative (PPD) after all offspring had been primed with DNP-CGG at 12 weeks of age. An enhanced anti-DNP antibody response was found to DNP-BSA in mice whose mothers had received BSA. It is suggested that this phenomenon demonstrates the transfer of carrier protein sensitivity from mother to foetus.