Regulatory B-B cell interactions in immune response to ovalbumin

Regulatory interactions within B-cell compartment were studied during ongoing IgG response to ovalbumin (OA) using limiting dilution analysis (LDA). Spleen cells from OA-primed C57BL/6 mice were restimulated in vitro with OA and cultured under LDA-conditions. The LDA-plots of OA-specific IgG-antibody (OA-IgG) production for both undivided splenocytes and T-depleted population had a zigzag form. The nonlinear character of the curves indicated that more than one cell type is limiting in the process. The pattern of the curve was not changed by the addition of lymphokines and autologous T cells, though the latter could exert regulatory influences on OA-IgG production in this system. Interactions between different B cell subsets, presumably idiotypic-antiidiotypic, may account for nonlinearity revealed in LDA of B cell population, thus supporting their role in ongoing humoral immune response.