DEVELOPMENT OF AN IDIOTYPIC NETWORK IN SHAPE SPACE

Based upon the shape-space formalism, a model of an idiotypic network including both bound and free immunoglobulins is simulated. Our point of interest is the network development in the context of self antigens . The investigations are organized ground simulations initiated by var ious spatial configurations of antigens; the behavior of the system wi th respect to antigens is analyzed in terms of morphogenetic processes occurring in the shape space. For certain values of the parameters, t he network expands by traveling waves. The resulting spatial pattern i s a partition of the shape space into zones where introduction of an a ntigen entails an infinite growth of the clones binding to it, and int o zones where, on the contrary, the anti-antigen idiotypes decrease. A mong the parameter combinations tested, some produce a partition that remains static whereas others produce a partition that changes in time . For other values of the parameters, the patterns generated do not pa rtition shape space into zones; in these cases, it is observed that th e system systematically explodes when an antigen is present.