Experimental infection of mice with Plasmodium berghei ANKA (PbA) provides a powerful model to define genetic determinants that regulate the development of cerebral malaria (CM). Based on the hypothesis that excessive activation of the complement system may confer susceptibility to CM, we investigated the role of C5/C5a in the development of CM. We show a spectrum of susceptibility to PbA in a panel of inbred mice; all CM-susceptible mice examined were found to be C5 sufficient, whereas all C5-deficient strains were resistant to CM. Transfer of the C5-defective allele from an A/J (CM resistant) onto a C57BL/6 (CM-susceptible) genetic background in a congenic strain conferred increased resistance to CM; conversely, transfer of the C5-sufficient allele from the C57BL/6 onto the A/J background recapitulated the CM-susceptible phenotype. The role of C5 was further explored in B10.D2 mice, which are identical for all loci other than C5. C5-deficient B10.D2 mice were protected from CM, whereas C5-sufficient B10.D2 mice were susceptible. Antibody blockade of C5a or C5a receptor (C5aR) rescued susceptible mice from CM. In vitro studies showed that C5a-potentiated cytokine secretion induced by the malaria product P. falciparum glycosylphosphatidylinositol and C5aR blockade abrogated these amplified responses. These data provide evidence implicating C5/C5a in the pathogenesis of CM.

Defective cardiac function during sepsis has been referred to as “cardiomyopathy of sepsis.” It is known that sepsis leads to intensive activation of the complement system. In the current study, cardiac function and cardiomyocyte contractility have been evaluated in rats after cecal ligation and puncture (CLP). Significant reductions in left ventricular pressures occurred in vivo and in cardiomyocyte contractility in vitro. These defects were prevented in CLP rats given blocking antibody to C5a. Both mRNA and protein for the C5a receptor (C5aR) were constitutively expressed on cardiomyocytes; both increased as a function of time after CLP. In vitro addition of recombinant rat C5a induced dramatic contractile dysfunction in both sham and CLP cardiomyocytes, but to a consistently greater degree in cells from CLP animals. These data suggest that CLP induces C5aR on cardiomyocytes and that in vivo generation of C5a causes C5a–C5aR interaction, causing dysfunction of cardiomyocytes, resulting in compromise of cardiac performance.

Infection of chick embryos wih either Newcastle disease virus or mumps virus and infection of BGM cell cultures with mumps virus result in the elaboration of chemotactic activity for neutrophils and macrophages. These factors cannot be found in lysates of uninfected cells. They do not appear to be associated with the viral particles per se, but rather are present in virus-free supernates from infected fluids. Ultracentrifugal studies of the neutrophil chemotactic activity in allantoic fluid of embryos infected with the two different viruses indicate a similar biphasic distribution of activity, while fluid from the mammalian cell cultures shows a single zone of leukotactic activity, further suggesting that the infected cell, rather than the virus, is responsible for the leukotactic activity. Virus-infected cells also release a substance(s) which is itself not leukotactic but which can interact with human C3 or C5 to generate such activity. This leukotactic factor-generating substance is similar to that reported in another virus-infected cell system. It is postulated that the leukotactic factors elaborated as a result of virus infection of cells may play a protective role in vivo.

Leukotactic factors derived from the complement sequence consist of C5-related products, including the small cleavage product and the higher molecular weight complex (C567). A leukotactically active cleavage product (of low molecular weight) has also been described. The C5-related factors have been found in two conditions: soluble tissue extracts of immunologic vasculitis and in synovial fluids from patients with rheumatoid arthritis. The C3-related product has been found in synovial fluids from patients with inflammatory, nonrheumatoid arthritis and in extracts of experimentally infarcted myocardium. The presence of these factors may be causally related to the acute inflammatory nature of the cellular exudates.

An improved method is described for extraction from rat myocardium of an enzyme that cleaves the third component of complement (C3) into leukotactic fragments. Direct cleavage of C3 has been shown by the use of a radiolabeled preparation of human C3. The enzyme elutes slightly beyond (retarded to) an albumin marker in gel filtration. After surgical ligation of a coronary artery, leukotactic activity can be extracted from infarcted rat myocardium. Described in terms of its time of appearance in infarcted tissue, the leukotactic activity has been identified as cleavage products of rat C3. The C3 fragments are of low molecular weight and heterogenous in size. Rats, if treated with the C3 inactivator (isolated from cobra venom) so as to ablate serum C3, fail to develop leukotactic activity in the infarcted myocardium. In turn, few if any of the usual intense accumulations of neutrophils in response to infected myocardium are seen during the first 48 hr after coronary artery ligation. These studies suggest a nonimmunologic role for C3 in the mediation of the acute inflammatory response in nonspecific tissue injury.

When cultured in the presence of specific antigen, lymphocytes from delayed-hypersensitive guinea pigs release a number of biologically active substances into the culture medium. Such active supernatants can react with immune complexes in vitro to generate a factor which is chemotactic for eosinophils. The factor involved is unique, since previously described chemotactic factors for other cell types require for their generation either immune complexes or substances released into lymphocyte culture, but not both. In the case of the eosinophil chemotactic factor, the interaction between the substance elaborated by the lymphocytes and the immune complexes appears to be specific in that the immune complexes must contain the same antigen as that used to activate the lymphocyte cultures. Although this factor was generated in an in vitro system, it has been shown to possess in vivo as well as in vitro activity. It is therefore possible that this factor may be of biological significance in situations where eosinophils are participants in inflammatory or immunologic reactions.

The p-nitrophenyl ethyl phosphonate esters have been shown to inhibit complement-dependent erythrophagocytosis when exposed to guinea pig polymorphonuclear leukocytes prior to the initiation of phagocytosis. Inhibition of phagocytosis occurred in a manner characteristic of the well-defined capacity of phosphonate esters to inactivate serine esterases: inhibition was irreversible, dependent upon the temperature of reaction and pH of the reaction medium, and proportional to the concentration of inhibitor used and the duration of exposure between leukocytes and inhibitor. Phosphonate inhibition was further shown to be independent of any general cell damaging effects of the compounds used. The phagocytic enzyme inhibited by phosphonate esters apparently exists in or on leukocytes in an already activated state prior to the initiation of the phagocytic process. The inhibitory profile of the activated phagocytic esterase was found to be essentially identical to the profile of inhibition previously obtained for the activated chemotactic esterase of rabbit polymorphonuclear leukocytes, suggesting that the same enzyme may function in both chemotaxis and phagocytosis. Various substrates including acetate esters reported to protect the activated chemotactic esterase from inhibition by phosphonate esters did not exhibit a clear protective effect in the phagocytic system and attempts to define the relationship between the two enzymes were unsuccessful. Suggestive evidence was also obtained for the requirement of the function of a second, activatable esterase in the phagocytic process.

When various rat tissues are incubated in homologous serum, a factor chemotactic in vitro for neutrophils is generated. The amount of chemotactic activity is a function of duration of incubation and the quantity of heart tissue or serum employed. Addition of trypsin inhibitor or antibody to the third component of complement (C3) precludes generation of chemotactic activity. In addition, antibody to C3 ablates chemotactic activity even after its formation. Purified human C3 (ß_1C-globulin) effectively substitutes for serum in the generation of chemotactic activity by heart tissue. The active product, as determined by gel filtration or by ultracentrifugal analysis in a sucrose density gradient, appears to be a cleavage product of C3 with a molecular weight of approximately 14,000. In addition, a larger C3 fragmentation product varying in molecular weight, depending upon experimental conditions, is also found. The protease in rat heart tissue capable of cleaving C3 into chemotactic fragments is a serine esterase with trypsin-like properties and can be inhibited by organophophorous compounds or trypsin inhibitors. The use of amino acid esters in the manner of competitive substrate inhibition confirms the trypsin-like nature of the protease. The presence of a protease in heart, and presumably in other normal tissues, capable of fragmenting C3 into factors with chemotactic activities may explain the development of the acute inflammatory response when tissues are non-specifically injured. If true, this would reinforce the role of the complement system in the mediation of nonimmunologically induced inflammation.

Previous published work has led to the hypothesis that the activatable esterase of chemotaxis is a serine esterase of the rabbit polymorphonuclear leukocyte existing in an inert, phosphonate insusceptible form, which after activation is capable of hydrolyzing aromatic amino acid esters and being inhibited by phosphonates. In the present study, directed to the testing of this hypothesis, we have shown that rabbit peritoneal polymorphonuclear leukocytes contain three esterases capable of hydrolyzing the aromatic amino acid ester, acetyl DL-phenylalanine ß-naphthyl ester. Two of these esterases, esterase 1 and esterase 2, are inhibited by various p-nitrophenyl ethyl phosphonate esters. The inhibition of each esterase is irreversible and progressive with time. When the logarithm of the esterase activity remaining after cell and inhibitor have been in contact for a constant time is plotted against the concentration of inhibitor, a straight line results. These results support the conclusion that both esterases are serine esterases. The third esterase, esterase 3, differs from the other two by its inability to be inactivated by any of the phosphonates no matter how high the concentration of phosphonate or prolonged the period of incubation of cell with phosphonate. The activity of esterase 1 is at least 10,000 times more easily inhibited by phosphonates than is that of esterase 2; incubating rabbit polymorphonuclear leukocytes for 15 min at 27°C with 10^–9–10^–8 M concentrations of various phosphonates inactivates esterase 1, but it required 10^–6–10^–4 M concentrations of the same phosphonates to inhibit esterase 2. The inhibition profiles of esterase 1 are distinctly different from those of esterase 2 when the two esterases are tested with the phenylalkylphosphonates, chloroalkylphosphonates, and alkylphosphonates. The inhibition profile of esterase 1 is essentially the same as that of the activatable esterase of chemotaxis obtained previously when the same three homologous series of phosphonates were tested for their ability to protect against deactivation by the chemotactic factor or give chemotactic-dependent inhibition. It is tentatively concluded that esterase 1 of the rabbit peritoneal neutrophil is the activated form of the activatable esterase of chemotaxis.

Chemotaxis of rabbit mononuclear cells was studied by the micropore-filter technique. Mononuclear cells obtained from mineral oil-induced peritoneal exudates respond chemotactically to rabbit serum treated with immune complexes or with streptokinase and plasminogen, to soluble factors produced by bacteria, and to lysates obtained from rabbit neutrophils. The first chemotactic factor requires heat-labile factors in serum for its generation, but, once formed, the chemotactic factor is relatively heat stable. This factor has been compared with the complement-associated factor in serum, C'(5, 6, 7)a, that is chemotactic for neutrophils. The ability to generate the mononuclear cell chemotactic factor in serum that has been treated with potassium thiocyanate suggests that complement is not required. The position of the chemotactic factor in preparative electrophoresis and density-gradient ultracentrifugation indicates that on the basis of physical-chemical criteria, this factor is not C'(5, 6, 7)a. The mononuclear cell chemotactic factor present in lysates of neutrophils sediments slowly in the ultracentrifuge and may be related, at least in part, to cationic peptides of lysosomal granules. A study in the time course of the chemotactic response of mononuclear cells reveals that the response begins to level off after 4 or 5 hr. This is in sharp contrast to the time course for the chemotactic response of neutrophils, in which the reaction is complete within 1.5 hr. Rabbit mononuclear cells obtained from a starch-induced peritoneal exudate respond to serum treated with plasminogen and streptokinase and to the soluble factor produced by bacteria, but no chemotactic response is elicited to serum treated with immune complexes. This indicates a functional difference between two populations of mononuclear cells. Rabbit alveolar macrophages respond poorly to all agents tested, although a weak chemotactic response to bacterial factors was found. The requirement of a serine esterase in the mononuclear cell for the cell to respond chemotactically was defined by the use of organophosphorus inhibitors. Pretreatment of mononuclear cells with several series of phosphonates renders them unresponsive in the chemotactic system. The effect is similar for mononuclear cells responding chemotactically to activated serum and to the bacterial chemotactic factor. Several points of contrast with inhibition profiles obtained in the chemotactic system of the neutrophil suggest that, while the mononuclear cell requires a serine esterase for chemotactic responsiveness, this enzyme is different from the one previously defined in the neutrophil.

As shown previously, immune complexes engender in rabbit serum a factor capable of inducing chemotaxis of rabbit polymorphonuclear leukocytes. This chemotactic factor consists of a complex of the fifth, sixth, and seventh components of complement. As demonstrated here, the polymorphonuclear leukocytes incubated with such treated rabbit serum lose their ability to respond chemotactically to the chemotactic factor. They are "deactivated." The process of "deactivation" is a function of the duration of contact of the cells with, and the concentration of, the treated serum. There is a parallelism between the time course of deactivation and of chemotaxis, as well as the dose-response curves for the two processes. Chemotactic factor purified by isoelectric precipitation and ion-exchange chromatography produces deactivation in the same manner as the treated serum. The deactivating activity requires, as does the chemotactic factor, the sixth component of complement; like the chemotactic factor, it is heat-stable and nondialyzable. Deactivation is prevented by the same phosphonate esters shown previously to prevent chemotaxis by the complement-associated chemotactic factor. The profiles of the phosphonates in protecting against deactivation are the same as the profiles for the chemotactic factor-dependent inhibition of chemotaxis. Aromatic amino acid derivatives prevent both chemotaxis and deactivation. We conclude from this evidence that the chemotactic factor is able to deactivate or induce chemotaxis depending upon experimental conditions. The fact that the profiles given by the phosphonates for protection against chemotactic factor-dependent deactivation and for chemotactic factor-dependent inhibition of chemotaxis are the same indicates that the "activatable esterase" is involved in both processes. Acetate esters such as ethyl acetate and others shown previously to prevent chemotaxis by inhibiting the "activated esterase" do not prevent deactivation. This indicates that deactivation can occur without participation of the latter enzyme, implying that deactivation involves only a part of the biochemical mechanism of chemotaxis. The protection against deactivation afforded by aromatic amino acid derivatives is specific, insofar as nonaromatic amino compounds and simple acetate esters have no effect. In addition, as stated, the aromatic amino acid derivatives inhibit deactivation and chemotaxis by the chemotactic factor. This latter finding, together with the demonstration of the involvement of the activatable esterase in both deactivation and chemotaxis, suggests that the activatable esterase of the rabbit polymorphonuclear leukocyte is a serine esterase with a special affinity for aromatic amino acid derivatives.

When streptokinase and highly purified human plasminogen are added to human serum or to partly purified or highly purified preparations containing the third component of complement (C'3), either rabbit or human, a chemotactic factor is generated. This chemotactic factor is a split product of C'3 and is dialyzable, fast moving electrophoretically, slowly sedimenting in sucrose density gradient ultracentrifugation, and has an approximate molecular weight of 6000. It is calculated that this fragment accounts for approximately 4% of the intact molecule. The C'3 fragment has the following biologic properties: It is chemotactic for rabbit PMN's in vitro, it causes accumulation of PMN's in vivo, and it increases vascular permeability in rat skin. In addition to generating a chemotactic factor, plasmin destroys the complement-associated chemotactic factor that is a trimolecular complex consisting of the fifth (C'5), sixth (C'6), and seventh (C'7) components of complement. This has been shown by a loss of chemotactic activity, as well as a dissociation of the C'5, C'6, C'7 complex and a destruction of C'6 hemolytic activity. The biologic significance of the plasmin-generated chemotactic factor is discussed in relation to other recently discovered biologically active fragments of C'3.

The addition of plasminogen and streptokinase to rabbit serum results in appearance of chemotactic activity which is relatively heat-labile and dialyzable. Generation of this activity requires heat-labile factors in serum, but not the sixth component of complement. The optimal mole ratio for generation of chemotactic activity is 1:1 to 1:3 for plasminogen to streptokinase. Neither material alone is sufficient to generate the activity in fresh serum. Generation of chemotactic activity can be blocked by the presence of ϵ-aminocaproic acid. This plasmin-generated chemotactic factor sediments slowly in a sucrose density gradient during ultracentrifugation. The addition of plasminogen and streptokinase to rabbit serum containing the preformed chemotactic factor (activated trimolecular complex of C'5, C'6, C'7) causes destruction of the chemotactic factor and loss of hemolytic activity of the sixth component of complement. The same mole ratio of reactants for optimal expression of the phenomenon holds as for plasmin generation of chemotactic activity in untreated serum.

It was shown in the preceding paper that incubation of the rabbit polymorphonuclearleukocyteswith phosphonate esters leads to an irreversible inhibition of the ability of the leukocyte to respond to the chemotactic factor. This "cell-dependent inhibition" was attributed to the inactivation by the phosphonates of an esterase existing in or on the leukocyte in an already activated state. As shown in this paper, incubating the leukocyte with phosphonate in the presence of certain esters prevents this cell-dependent inhibition. The protection is specific; the ester must be an acetate. Ethyl formate, ethyl propionate, ethyl butyrate, glucose 6-phosphate, fructose 1,6-diphosphate, ATP, tosyl arginine methyl ester, or acetyl tyrosine ethyl ester do not protect. The protection is independent of the phosphonate used to inhibit, and the degree of protection depends on the relative concentrations of acetate and phosphonate. Those acetates which protect are also the esters which inhibit chemotaxis when added to the leukocyte in the upper part of the chemotaxis chamber. It is concluded that the activated esterase is an enzyme capable of specifically splitting, or binding acetates, or doing both. Presumably the esterase is some type of acetylesterase or acetylase. The known aliesterase present in the leukocyte is not the activated esterase. Inhibition of the activated esterase by phosphonates has no effect on endogenous or exogenous glycolysis.

Studies in the time course of the response of rabbit polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN's) to the complement-associated chemotactic factor have revealed that the response is virtually complete by 60 min with less than 15% additionally responding cells thereafter. Phosphonate esters with a well defined capacity to inhibit serine esterases have been used to study the cell-associated enzymes of the rabbit PMN required for the chemotactic response. Two types of inhibition of the cell response to the chemotactic factor have been found: (a) cell-dependent inhibition occurring as a result of pretreatment of PMN's with phosphonate esters; and (b) chemotactic factor-dependent inhibition demonstrated only when the phosphonate ester is present during the chemotactic response. Differences were found in these two modes of inhibition caused by various phosphonates, in terms of their time course of inhibition, in the dose response curves, and in the structure-activity relationships. It has been conclusively demonstrated that the phosphonate esters have no direct inhibitory effect on the chemotactic factor. This has been shown by retention of activity of the chemotactic factor following incubation with phosphonate esters and subsequent removal by dialysis. In addition, the activity of the chemotactic factor and its physical-chemical characteristics in density gradient ultracentrifugation were unaltered in the continued presence of a potent phosphonate inhibitor of chemotaxis. The uptake of the dye trypan blue was studied in cells treated with phosphonate in such a manner to induce cell-dependent inhibition of chemotaxis. Even when 84% cell-dependent inhibition of chemotaxis occurred, no uptake of the dye by leukocytes was found. Thus, phosphonate-induced inhibition of cell responsiveness in chemotaxis was not associated with generalized cell damage as defined by exclusion of the dye. It is concluded that cell-dependent inhibition is due to the presence of a cell-bound esterase which is already activated and thus susceptible to inhibition by phosphonate esters before contact of the cell with the chemotactic factor. The second type of inhibition, chemotactic factor-dependent inhibition, is considered due to a cell-bound esterase which becomes susceptible to inhibition by phosphonate esters only after contact of the PMN with the chemotactic factor. It is postulated that the chemotactic factor activates this phosphonate-resistant precursor making it susceptible to the inhibitory action of the phosphonate ester.

The effects of various drugs on chemotaxis of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN's) in vitro and in vivo have been studied. Response of rabbit PMN's in vitro to the chemotactic factor of rabbit serum, consisting of an activated protein-protein complex of the fifth and sixth (and probably seventh) components of complement (C'), is suppressed by hydrocortisone, methyl prednisolone, and chloroquine. Drug concentrations causing 50% inhibition of chemotaxis in vitro were found to be: hydrocortisone, 2.9 x 10^–4 M; methly prednisolone, 1.2 x 10^–4 M; and chloroquine 8.5 x 10^–6 M. The hydrocortisone effect on PMN's appeared to be irreversible, since washing of the cells did not restore their chemotactic response. 2, 4-Dinitrophenol (DNP), vitamin A, and endotoxin did not inhibit chemotaxis. Hydrocortisone and chloroquine did block serum C' activity in vitro, but only at substantially higher concentrations. Using the reversed passive Arthus reaction in guinea pigs as a model for chemotaxis in vivo, systemic treatment of animals with hydrocortisone or chloroquine inhibited development of the vasculitis. Circulating antigen and C' were fixed in vascular structures, and serum C' was not perceptibly altered. Nevertheless, PMN infiltrates failed to occur. Local administration of hydrocortisone also prevented influx of PMN's in the Arthus reaction, in spite of the fact that immune reactants were found fixed in the vascular walls. Systemic treatment of guinea pigs with DNP did not diminish the intensity of the Arthus reactions. Phagocytosis of zymosan particles by rabbit PMN's was inhibited by hydrocortisone, methyl prednisolone, and chloroquine, but not by DNP or endotoxin. The concentrations of drugs inhibitory in phagocytosis were substantially higher than those required for inhibition of chemotaxis in vitro. These findings suggest that hydrocortisone and chloroquine inhibit the inflammatory process by preventing the response of leukocytes to chemotactic stimuli.

By the use of chambers containing two compartments with an interposed micropore filter, chemotaxis of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN's) in vitro was studied employing various agents that fixed serum complement (C'). Antigen-antibody complexes, zymosan, and aggregated human gamma globulin, in the presence of fresh rabbit, guinea pig, or mouse serum resulted in the migration of PMN's through the micropore filter. Pepsin-degraded rabbit antibody or unaltered duck serum containing antibody did not exhibit such activity after addition of antigen. Heating of the serum before treatment or the presence of EDTA prevented the generation of the chemotactic factor. The chemotactic factor could not be generated in whole serum from rabbits genetically deficient in C'. However, the defect in this rabbit serum could be corrected by addition of rabbit or human C'6. Serum of B10·D2 mice deficient in hemolytic C' also yielded poor chemotactic activity. Interaction of the first four reacting components of guinea pig C' did not result in significant chemotactic activity unless guinea pig euglobulin with heat labile components was also present. In rabbit serum, C'5 and C'6, when "activated" by interaction with the first four reacting components, behaved like a protein-protein complex and exhibited marked chemotactic activity. By employing conditions favoring dissociation of the complex, the individual components were isolated and shown to be chemotactically inactive. Upon recombination of the two components, however, activity reappeared. Using another approach, the C'5–C'6 complex was isolated intact, and shown to be chemotactically active while other fractions not containing these components were not active. It is postulated that the C'5–C'6 complex is the active chemotactic factor generated in serum after the addition of C'-fixing agents.

Rats and guinea pigs were depleted of complement (C') by treatment with heat aggregated human γ-globulin (agg HGG), zymosan, anti-ß1C globulin, and carrageenan. Although antigen and antibody were bound to vascular structures, Arthus reactions were inhibited. This inhibition was characterized by the lack of C' binding to walls of vessels, the lack of polymorphonuclear (PMN's) cellular infiltrates, and the lack of significant vascular damage. When the same animals were followed for several hours thereafter, levels of serum C' began to rise, C' was bound in tissues, PMN infiltrates appeared, and immunologic vasculitis developed. Blood counts, chemotaxis of PMN's induced by lysates of PMN granules, together with studies on motility and phagocytosis by PMN's obtained from C' depleted rats, failed to establish any abnormality in these cells which would account for inhibition of Arthus reactions. The specificity of C' depletion in terms of effects in the first four reacting components of guinea pig C' was studied. Treatment with agg HGG led to loss of activity in all components, whereas zymosan and anti-ß1C globulin predominately affected the third component (C'3c). Carrageenan mainly affected the first two reacting components of C'. Thus, the availability of the 3c component, or a subsequently reacting component, correlated with the attraction of PMN's to immune reactants in vivo. Various antibodies with different C' fixing capacities in vitro were tested for their ability to induce immunologic vasculitis in normal animals. In rats, only those antibodies which fixed C' in vitro possessed biological activity, whereas in guinea pigs, all antibodies tested, regardless of C' fixation in vitro, induced Arthus reactions. For a given antibody in rats the vasculitis-inducing property was reflected in its ability to bind C' in vascular structures. Rats depleted of circulating PMN's by specific antibody were tested for Arthus activity. Although concentrations of immune reactants and C' were readily detected in vascular structures, no PMN infiltration occurred and significant vascular damage was averted.

Histologic changes occurring in the rabbit spleen during the primary response to intravenous injection of bovine gamma globulin alone and in combination with bacterial endotoxin have been described. The predominant morphologic changes associated with antibody formation in animals that received antigen alone were confined to the follicular areas of the spleen. Only minimal changes were seen in the red pulp. No new cellular types appeared following endotoxin stimulus. Rather, a profound augmentation of events observed following a single injection of bovine gamma globulin alone appears to account for the higher levels of antibody incited by this adjuvant. The cell type important in antibody formation under these conditions appeared to be a modified reticular cell. Plasma cells were not part of the cellular reaction. A hypothesis describing the primary antibody response is presented.