The limitations of immunoenzyme approaches to distinguish between 'specific' and 'non-specific' antibody-forming cells, with particular respect to immunocytochemical studies on the in situ immune response |
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Authors: | N van Rooijen |
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Institution: | Department of Histology, Medical Faculty, Free University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. |
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Abstract: | After antigenic stimulation, specific antibody-forming cells can be detected in situ in tissue sections of lymphoid organs using an antigen specific immunoenzyme approach. Immunoglobulin-forming cells staining positively with a particular antigen-enzyme conjugate are considered to be specific antibody-forming cells (provided that the right control conjugates show a negative staining). Immunoglobulin-forming cells, staining negatively with the same antigen-enzyme conjugate, may do so for two reasons: (i) they are in fact specific antibody-forming cells, but are not detected as such because of limitations of the technique; (ii) they are real-nonspecific immunoglobulin producing cells. In this paper, the limitations of the technique are discussed. |
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