Persistent and Boosterable IgE Antibody Production in Mice Injected with Low Doses of Ovalbumin and Silica

The results of the present experiments show that Aerosil, an amorphous submicroscopic silica, is able to stimulate in Swiss outbred mice the production of IgE antibodies to a single 1 microgram dose of Ovalbumin (OA) in experimental conditions in which detectable IgG1 antibodies were not produced. The production of IgE anti-OA antibodies stimulated by silica was persistent for a least 4 months, and demonstrated a secondary stimulation. Neither IgE nor IgG1 anti-OA antibodies were demonstrable when mice were immunized with OA alone or OA with aluminum hydroxide.