Jonathan W. Uhr M.D.¹, Martin S. Finkelstein ¹, and Joyce B. Baumann Ph.D.¹

¹ From the Departments of Medicine and Microbiology, New York University School of Medicine, New York

Injection of a small bacteriophage X 174 into guinea pigs results in an accelerated elimination of phage detectable as early as 24 hours after injection. The immune nature of the accelerated elimination is indicated by its specificity, by the appearance of excess specific serum antibody after phage elimination, and by the prevention of accelerated elimination by 400 r whole body x-irradiation of guinea pigs prior to injection of phage. The early antibody response is considered to be a primary one since an analogous response occurs in newborn guinea pigs, antibody is not detectable in the sera of non-immunized animals, and the second challenge with X stimulates a serum antibody response 100-fold greater than that after primary immunization. The early detection of immune elimination appears to be due, in part, to the small amounts of phage employed, since larger doses of phage delay the time of onset of detectable immune elimination. The early rise of serum antibody in the primary and secondary response appears exponential with a similar rate constant of antibody formation. The rate constant is also independent of dose. These findings have led to the suggestion that during this exponential phase, the relative rate of antibody formation at a cellular level may be constant for a given antigen.

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• Litt, M. (1967). Studies of the Latent Period. I: PRIMARY ANTIBODY IN GUINEA PIG LYMPH NODES 71/2 MINUTES AFTER INTRODUCTION OF CHICKEN ERYTHROCYTES. Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol 32: 477-492 [Abstract]  
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• Finkelstein, M. S., Uhr, J. W. (1964). Specific Inhibition of Antibody Formation by Passively Administered 19S and 7S Antibody. Science 146: 67-69 [Abstract]  
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