IMMUNE RESPONSES IN AGED MICE.

The article analyzes the changes in the antibody responses to bacterial α-amylase and sheep erythrocytes in C57BL strain of mice with ageing and possible mechanisms responsible for these changes. In the C57BL strain of mice an immune response to sheep red cells was markedly reduced, whereas the response to a bacterial α-amylase was not changed with ageing. This reduction in an immune response was found to result from a decrease in the number of antibody-forming cells, not from a decrease in the amount of antibody synthesized by individual antibody-forming cells.