Abstract
Injection of an immunogen into a susceptible, immunocompetent animal, elicits production of antibody molecules specific to the antigenic determinants of the immunogen. If the immunogen possesses different determinants the corresponding antibody species are synthesized, thus in the case of complex immunogens the response is made up of a mixture of several antibody populations with different specificities. These antibody populations appear simultaneously or successively. Within each specificity subpopulations of molecules are often found differing in the strength with which the antigen-combining site binds to the corresponding determinant. The binding properties as well as other characteristics of antibodies, such as immunoglobulin class, allotype, and idiotype usually change with time after immunization. We shall review data on these chronological changes as a means of looking into the time-course dynamics of antibody-forming clones. Most of the information available refers to antibodies of IgG class and, to a lesser extent, to antibodies of IgM class, purposely induced by injecting experimental antigens. Data on the binding properties of other Ig classes are scarce. For IgA some information exists which was obtained using myeloma proteins; we shall consider it only marginally.
Published Version
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