Analyses of Immune Responses to Ontogeny-Specific Antigens Using an Inbred Strain of Xenopus laevis (J Strain)

In this chapter, the procedures for specific detection of ontogenic emerging antigens during animal development are described. Anuran metamorphosis has provided us with a good experimental model for investigation of the mechanisms of tissue remodeling. The establishment of a syngeneic strain of Xenopus laevis described in this chapter has enabled us to perform a unique experiment to develop antibodies that specifically react to ontogenic antigens by immunizing syngeneic animals. This strategy was successful because the antibody repertoires produced in the adult frog serum were well subtracted by a number of common antigens expressed in syngeneic larvae. Here we show, using results of immunohistochemical and T-cell proliferation analyses that adult frogs exhibit humoral and cell-mediated immune responses to larva- or metamorphosis-specific antigen molecules in epidermal cells.