Immune Response in the Guinea Pig to Penicillin-Autologous Carrier Proteins

Abstract

The spontaneous fixation of penicillin G on guinea pig serum protein was studied. Serum albumin and Ig were shown to fix firmly over 95% of penicillin. Therefore, guinea pigs were immunized with penicillin alone or penicillin-autologous carrier protein conjugates. The production of hemagglutinating antibody, of MIF and the in vitro stimulation of lymphocytes were analyzed as immunological parameters. The results showed that in all cases the strongest immunological response was obtained with animals immunized with the protein-hapten conjugates, whereas no response could be obtained with the carrier protein alone. Finally it was shown that the conjugates significantly stimulated purified T cell population. These results suggest that the antigenic recognition of penicillin involves the participation of lymphocytes.