Orally induced tolerance. Definition at the cellular level.

Several elements of the phenomenon of oral tolerance were examined. It was shown that whereas intragastric (i.g.) exposure of mice to the T-dependent antigens ovalbumin (OVA), bovine serum albumin, and human gamma globulin severely compromised the ability to respond to a subsequent challenge with the homologous antigen, i.g. treatment with T-independent antigens such as dinitrophenylated Ficoll, polyvinylpyrrolidone and bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) did not induce anergy. Furthermore, mice parenterally primed to OVA were not only refractory to the induction of oral tolerance with OVA, but displayed an anamnestic response following i.g. treatment with the antigen. In a final line of investigation, it was shown that whereas mice administered OVA orally lost specific T cell functions such as the ability to (a) provide helper activity; (b) proliferate in response to antigen, and (c) mediate delayed-type hypersensitivity, such animals possessed OVA-specific functional B cells as evidenced by the ability to respond to OVA when the antigen was administered either linked to a recognizable carrier or in conjunction with LPS.