Tolerance in adult rabbits by repeated non-immunogenic doses of bovine serum albumin

Abstract

A series of multiple intravenous injections of bovine serum albumin, starting with doses too small to be immunogenic, has been used for the induction of tolerance in adult rabbits. With normal outbred animals, approximately 50 per cent of the rabbits were rendered completely tolerant by an injection schedule with 0.1 mg as the initial dose and a total dose of 9 mg given over a period of 5–7 weeks. The mechanism of this `low-dose tolerance' is discussed.