Abstract
A comparison of specific antibodies induced by a saline extract of chemically modified rat male accessory glands (MRAG) in isologous (male and female rats) and heterologous animals (rabbits and a goat) was made. This study was focused on the specificity of the antibodies confronted with saline extract of rat male accessory glands (RAG), their Sephadex G-100 fractions and autoantigen fragments. Specificity studies with Sephadex G-100 fractions of RAG showed that whereas in male rats only the antibodies reactive with Fraction 1 containing autoantigens were detected, one additional population of antibody with different specificity was revealed in female sera. In contrast, antibodies against several other macromolecules were present in heterologous sera. When analyzed for the serum specificity against three enzymatic fragments of autoantigen, the main specificities of male and female sera were different.
