Distribution of Ia-antigen-like molecules on non-lymphoid tissues.

Ia-antigen-like molecules are expressed on cells within several different non-lymphoid tissues of the guinea-pig. In indirect immunofluorescence analyses anti-Ia-antigen antibodies stained epithelial cells lining the intestinal tract, the bile ducts, the respiratory tract and the urinary tract. The rabbit antibodies against Ia antigens also stained the cells of the parotid and the submandibular glands. Evidence was also obtained suggesting that the reticuloepithelial cells of the thymus, like the Kupffer cells of the liver, express Ia-antigen-like molecules. In several cases indirect immunoprecipitation analyses and SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis confirmed the immunofluorescence studies inasmuch as Ia-antigen-like subunits with apparent molecular weights of 26,000 and 34,000 could be isolated from the non-lymphoid organs.