SEPARATION OF NORMAL AND IMMUNE LYMPHOID CELLS BY ANTIGEN-COATED COLUMNS : ANTIGEN-BINDING CHARACTERISTICS OF MEMBRANE ANTIBODIES AS ANALYZED BY HAPTEN-PROTEIN ANTIGENS

Specific fractionation of immunologically competent cells derived from normal or immune animals was achieved by filtration through antigen-coated bead columns. This selective retention of the relevant reactive cells could be shown to produce a cell population, which after passage through the column would behave like a suspension rendered immunologically tolerant by "classical" means. The immunologically specific elimination of potential antibody-forming capacity of the filtered cells could be shown to affect the IgM and the IgG system to a similar extent. Analysis of the binding characteristics of the membrane antibodies responsible for this selective retention indicate striking similarities to those of the humoral antibodies produced against the antigen. Thus, the surface receptor could distinguish isolated haptenic groups on a "foreign" carrier background and the receptor of the hapten-reactive cells in the present system (high-rate antibody-forming cells against NIP) failed to combine with carrier specific determinants in analogy with the binding behavior of the serum anti-hapten antibodies. The binding of anti-hapten reactive cells to bead-attached haptens could be specifically inhibited by the presence of free hapten in the columnar fluid during cellular filtration. The results strongly suggest that the potential humoral antibody-forming cell has preformed receptors on its outer surface with binding characteristics, indicating similarity, if not identity, to those of the eventual product of the cell, the humoral antibody

SUPPRESSION OR AUGMENTATION OF THE ANTIHAPTEN RESPONSE IN MICE BY ANTIBODIES OF DIFFERENT SPECIFICITIES

We have measured the production by (C57 x CBA)F1 mice of hapten-binding antibody in response to a standard dose of 50 µg of alum-precipitated NIP12-CG and the influence on this response of the prior administration of hyperimmune antisera raised against the homologous conjugate, the carrier globulin alone, the hapten conjugated to a non-cross-reactive carrier (NIP4-OA), or a related hapten (NP) coupled to CG. The homologous antiserum was strongly immunosuppressive; a dose capable of binding about 1% of the administered hapten caused significant suppression. High doses of anticarrier serum caused significant but modest suppression (about 50%); low doses had no effect. High doses of the serum prepared against NIP4-OA suppressed the 19 day response by more than 97%, while 100–1,000 times lower doses caused the response to be elevated to about double the control level. The antibodies responsible for immunosuppression could be removed from this serum, as could the NIP-binding antibodies, by absorption with NIP coupled through ethylenediamine to insoluble Sepharose. The ability of this serum to augment the response was not reduced by such absorption. Augmenting antibodies could be removed by absorption with HOP-BSA-Sepharose. Thus, immunosuppression and augmentation are functions of two different populations of antibody. The former are specific hapten-binding antibodies, the latter seem to be directed against new antigenic determinants created by coupling any of the family of haptens through lysine to protein carriers. In support of this contention, it was observed that rabbit antiserum to NP-CG, after absorption with CG-Sepharose, augmented the response of mice to standard immunization with NIP12-CG. Female mice produced significantly more NIP-binding antibody than did males

INHERITANCE OF ANTIBODY SPECIFICITY : I. Anti-(4-Hydroxy-3-Nitrophenyl)Acetyl of the Mouse Primary Response

Our data suggest that fine specificity of antihapten antibodies is a useful Mendelian marker of variable (V) genes. We found that some mouse strains (e.g., C57/BL6) consistently produced heteroclitic anti-(4-hydroxy-3-nitrophenyl)acetyl (NP) antibodies (relative affinity for related (4-hydroxy-5-iodo-3-nitrophenyl)acetyl and (4-hydroxy-3.5-dinitrophenyl)acetyl was always >2) while other strains (e.g., CBA) produced "conventional" anti-NP antibodies (relative affinities were consistently <1). 48 (CBA x C57BL/6)F1 mice were studied and most of them had heteroclitic anti-NP antibodies. They were backcrossed to the recessive CBA parent, and 87 backcross animals were similarly tested. Those heterozygous for the C57BL/6 heavy (H)-chain allotype were similar to the C57BL/6 and the F1 mice while mice homozygous for the CBA allotype were indistinguishable from the CBA. Such monogenic inheritance was observed only in the primary response. Predominance of allotype-linked genes in the control of the fine specificity characteristics was confirmed by immunizing selected homozygous mouse strains. These mice contained various mixtures of genes from C57BL, BALB/c, and other strains. Specificity of their anti-NP was exclusively determined by genes linked to the H-chain allotype, no influence could be attributed to other genes including the H-2-linked genes

OLIGOMERIC IGA: THE MAJOR COMPONENT OF THE IN VITRO PRIMARY RESPONSE OF MOUSE SPLEEN FRAGMENTS

The primary antibody response elicited from mouse spleen explants by conjugates of the 3-nitro-5-iodo-4-hydroxyphenylacetic acid (NIP) hapten consisted mostly of the IgA class. Poly-L-lysine, pneumococcal polysaccharide Type SIII, keyhole limpet hemocyanin, and sheep erythrocytes were effective carriers in this system, whereas chicken globulin was not. The anti-NIP response against all of the immunogenic conjugates was detectable in culture media 4 days after explantation and immunization, and reached peak titers by 8–10 days. IgA was identified by sucrose gradient velocity centrifugation in conjunction with the use of a class-specific antiserum. The media collected at 4 days contained low titers of IgM antibody, whereas the peak response at 8 days consisted almost entirely of IgA. The primary response IgA secreted by the spleen fragments was characterized as polymeric by its sedimentation rate through a sucrose gradient, and as polyvalent by its drastically greater avidity for NIP14BSA than for free NIP-aminocaproic acid. Its haptenated phage-inactivating activity was abolished by treatment with 0.1 M 2-mercaptoethanol. These experiments indicate that precursor cells existing in the spleen before primary immunization can give rise to production of polymeric IgA

Growth Response of Cassava to Deficit Irrigation and Potassium Fertigation during the Early Growth Phase

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) experiences intermittent water deficit and suffers from potassium (K) deficiency that seriously constrains its yield in the tropics. Currently, the interaction effect between deficit irrigation and K fertigation on growth and yield of cassava is unknown, especially during the early growth phase. Therefore, pot experiments were conducted under controlled greenhouse conditions using cassava cuttings. Treatments initiated at 30 days after planting included three irrigation doses (30%, 60%, 100% pot capacity) and five K (0.01, 1, 4, 16, and 32 mM) concentrations. The plants were harvested 90 days after planting. Decreasing irrigation dose to 30% together with 16 mM K lowered the leaf water potential by 69%, leaf osmotic potential by 41%, photosynthesis by 35%, stomatal conductance by 41%, water usage by 50%, leaf area by 17%, and whole-plant dry mass by 41%, compared with full-irrigated plants. Lowering the K concentration below 16 mM reduced the values further. Notably, growth and yield were decreased the least compared with optimal, when irrigation dose was decreased to 60% together with 16 mM K. The results demonstrate that deficit irrigation strategies could be utilized to develop management practices to improve cassava productivity by means of K fertigation under low moisture conditions

Quantum-mechanical model of the Kerr-Newman black hole

We consider a Hamiltonian quantum theory of stationary spacetimes containing a Kerr-Newman black hole. The physical phase space of such spacetimes is just six-dimensional, and it is spanned by the mass $M$, the electric charge $Q$ and angular momentum $J$ of the hole, together with the corresponding canonical momenta. In this six-dimensional phase space we perform a canonical transformation such that the resulting configuration variables describe the dynamical properties of Kerr-Newman black holes in a natural manner. The classical Hamiltonian written in terms of these variables and their conjugate momenta is replaced by the corresponding self-adjoint Hamiltonian operator and an eigenvalue equation for the Arnowitt-Deser-Misner (ADM) mass of the hole, from the point of view of a distant observer at rest, is obtained. In a certain very restricted sense, this eigenvalue equation may be viewed as a sort of "Schr\"odinger equation of black holes". Our "Schr\"odinger equation" implies that the ADM mass, electric charge and angular momentum spectra of black holes are discrete, and the mass spectrum is bounded from below. Moreover, the spectrum of the quantity $M^2-Q^2-a^2$, where $a$ is the angular momentum per unit mass of the hole, is strictly positive when an appropriate self-adjoint extension is chosen. The WKB analysis yields the result that the large eigenvalues of $M$, $Q$ and $a$ are of the form $\sqrt{2n}$, where $n$ is an integer. It turns out that this result is closely related to Bekenstein's proposal on the discrete horizon area spectrum of black holes.Comment: 30 pages, 3 figures, RevTe

Potassium Fertigation With Deficit Irrigation Improves the Nutritive Quality of Cassava

Water deficit limits cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) productivity in drought-prone areas and alters the nutritive quality of the crop. Potassium (K) may mitigate the effects of water deficit and improve the nutritional content of cassava, which would alleviate malnutrition among the human population in the tropics who depend on cassava as a staple food. Pot experiments were conducted under controlled glasshouse conditions to investigate the influence of deficit irrigation and K fertigation on the nutritive and anti-nutritive quality of biofortified cassava during the early growth phase. Treatments initiated at 30 days after planting were three irrigation doses (30, 60, 100% pot capacity) that were split to five K (0.01, 1, 4, 16, and 32 mM) concentrations. Plants were harvested at 90 days after planting, and the starch, energy, carotenoid, crude protein, fiber, minerals, and cyanide concentration of the leaves and roots were determined. Irrigation and K treatments showed significant (P <0.05) interactions for starch, carotenoid, energy, and cyanide concentration. An irrigation dose of 30% together with 0.01 mM K resulted in the lowest starch, carotenoid, energy, and fiber content, but highest cyanide concentration, relative to full-irrigated (100%) plants together with 16 mM K. When the K application rate was 16 mM the best nutritional quality was obtained, with the lowest cyanide concentration, regardless of irrigation dose. Moreover, nutritional traits showed strong positive associations, whereas cyanide concentration correlated negatively with all the nutritional traits. Notably, an irrigation dose of 60% together with 16 mM K reduced the nutritional content the least and showed minimal increase in cyanide concentration. The results indicate that K fertigation with adjusted irrigation may improve the dietary quality of young cassava and reduce antinutrients, which could enhance the nutrient bioavailability of cassava grown in drought-prone areas.Peer reviewe