Suppressive effects of Corynebacterium parvum on primary and secondary antibody responses in mice.

The splenic plaque forming cell (PFC) response of mice to an intraperitoneal injection of sheep erythrocytes was severely depressed by prior treatment with Corynebacterium parvum given four days beforehand by the same route. However, total antibody levels were less affected, and soon attained near normal titres. This implied that the effects of C. parvum were limited to the spleen, and that other tissues gave a substantial response during the period when the splenic response was suppressed. Equally, this apparently local immunosuppressive effect of C. parvum failed to inhibit the eventual development of a normal memory cell pool. It was also shown that primed cells in the spleen, challenged during the period when C. parvum inhibited primary IgG responses, were relatively refractory to its suppressive effects.