Distinct VH repertoires in primary and secondary B cell lymphocyte subsetsin the preimmune repertoire of A/J mice: the CRI-A idiotype is preferentially associated with the HSA(low) B cell subset

The anti-arsonate immune response of A/J mice is characterized by the occur rence of several recurrent idiotypes with a different temporal pattern of e xpression. The CRI-A idiotype is typically a memory idiotype since it appea rs late in the primary and dominates the secondary as well as subsequent im mune responses. The CRI-C idiotype is present throughout the responses, inc luding the primary one. Naive adult A/J mice treated repeatedly with anti-C I or anti-delta monoclonal antibodies exhibit a completely different balanc e of HSA(low) and HSA(high) B cell subsets and an opposite idiotype profile after immunization with p-azophenylarsonate coupled to hemocyanin. Anti-mu treatment leads to a striking enhancement of the HSA(low) cell subset asso ciated with an earlier important synthesis of CRI-A(+) antibodies, while an ti-delta treatment enhances significantly the HSA(high) compartment with a strong decrease of CRI-A and persistence of CRI-C1 antibodies. Semiquantita tive PCR analysis reveals that the presence of CRI-A transcripts is associa ted with the HSA(low) compartment, while CRI-C transcripts are mainly assoc iated with HSA(high) B cell subsets. This has been demonstrated with spleen cells of adult A/J mice treated with anti-mu or anti-delta antibodies and also with purified B cell subsets of unimmunized adult A/J mice and on neon atal spleen cells. It appears that the memory (CRI-A) idiotype is selected into the HSA(low) B cell subset before antigen arrival.