IgA antibodies in the bile of rats. IV. Synthesis of secretory antibodies in irradiated rats reconstituted with spleen cells: influence of microenvironment on the regulation of IgA production.

Inbred rats were given sub-lethal doses of irradiation so that they were unable to make antibodies unless they were reconstituted with syngeneic lymphoid cells. The ability of the reconstituted rats to make antibodies of the IgA class was measured in terms of the titres of specific antibodies that appeared in their bile. After syngeneic spleen cells, together with antigen, were injected into the spleens of irradiated rats, the titres of specific antibodies that appeared in the bile were low. After the same dose of spleen cells and antigen had been injected into the GALT of irradiated rats, the titres of biliary antibodies were substantial. These results, together with those of appropriate control experiments, suggest that radio-resistant influences in the microenvironment of the GALT may be important in inducing lymphoid cells to produce antibodies of the IgA class in response to local antigen.