Requirement for a beta 2-microglobulin-associated Fc receptor for acquisition of maternal IgG by fetal and neonatal mice

Abstract

There is considerable evidence to suggest that an FcR similar in structure to class I MHC Ags, neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn), transports IgG across the intestinal epithelium of suckling mice. However, this has not previously been shown definitively, nor has it been shown whether FcRn is the only, or even the major, IgG transporter in the neonatal mouse gut. We report here that neonatal mice homozygous for a targeted disruption of the beta 2microglobulin (beta 2m) gene, which encodes one subunit of FcRn, had reduced FcRn alpha-chain at the lumenal plasma membrane of intestinal cells. These mice had strikingly lower serum IgG levels during the first month after birth than littermates that possessed functional FcRn. Furthermore, we found by fostering mice on mothers with a different IgG allotype that all of the IgG in sera of beta 2m-/- mice was endogenous, and that none was obtained from milk. We conclude that FcRn is the only transporter of IgG from mother to young in the mouse. The onset of IgG synthesis in mice that received no milk IgG lagged behind that in siblings with normal IgG transport, suggesting that maternal IgG stimulates Ab production in the neonate. We noted no difference between the IgG concentrations in the milk of beta 2m-/- and beta 2m+/- mice, indicating that FcRn is not involved in the secretion of IgG into milk.