Individual differences in the antibody response of inbred C57Bl/6J mice and their relation to individual differences in open-field behavior

Abstract

Mice of the inbred C57Bl/6J strain displayed high variability in the antibody response of the IgG class to heat-aggregated bovine serum albumin. A cluster analysis (with 1-correlation coefficient as distance) disclosed two groups of mice: those mice than produced an augmented secondary antibody response, and those that did not; another cluster analysis (with difference in antibody concentration as distance) on each of the above groups disclosed small groups of mice, or individual mice, with varying antibody content. Antibody concentration was not associated with ambulation, rearing, grooming, or defecation in the open-field, but ambulation was positively correlated with rearing.