Antibody concentration over time

[jocknerd]

If you inject a mouse with a single dose of spider venom (or any non-reproducing antigen), what kind of antibody concentration do you see over time? Of course, it will vary depending on the mouse and the antigen, but is there a typical curve you would see if you graph the antibody concentration every hour?

 

The studies I'm finding deal with very particular cases - I'm looking for a more text-book/general case. On a side note, if I go hunting for text books, is 'antibody kinetics' the term I'm looking for?

[Elite Engineer]

There is an equilibrium equation you can use to find the certain variables you're looking for, but you're going to need exact concentrations:

 

 

Δf_aq/C_A=K_A(Δf_max-Δf_aq)

 

Δf_{aq is frequency value obtained at equilbrium at each concentration (rate)}

 

C_{A is concetration}

 

 

K_{A is the slope of the equation.}

 

_{-with this you'll be able to find a curve of the antibody appearance.}

 

you're going to want to read mostly research papers, my best guess, but find some textbooks if you can, and yes ANTIBODY KINETICS is waht you're looking for. Here's some helpful links too if you'd like:

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19800445

 

ww.attana.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/AE01-03-KineticaAffinity_MAbs.pdf

 

[jocknerd]

Thanks!

 

I think that equation is describing antibody-antigen binding. I'm looking more for the blood concentration in a live animal. What I mainly want to find out is what happens to the antibody levels after the antigen is gone - does it taper off completely? -does it fall down to a baseline? -does the rate of decline depend on prior exposure?

[CharonY]

I do not think that this can be easily answered. The strength of the immune responses is determined by a multitude of factors, for example. Likewise normally the respective antibody levels will decline and can fall below detectable levels. Though it does not mean that there are no cells left that present them. In addition, antibody reactions are no necessarily 100% specific, meaning that very weak responses may be triggered with structurally similar compounds.

In cases of strong reactions (e..g due to certain infections) especially IgMs can be readily detected after a year or so. More sensitive methods may even spot them longer.