Meeting Abstract
Compared to immunity in adult frogs, little is known about immunity in tadpoles. It has been demonstrated that Rana catesbeiana tadpoles can isotype switch from IgM to IgY three weeks after exposure to an antigen. However, the exact timing of this has not been determined. The time period of isotype switching in Rana catesbeiana was studied in 90 tadpoles, in addition to the development of their spleens. We divided the tadpoles into two different groups, the control group and the immunized group. Control tadpoles received 10 µL of a 50/50 of phosphate buffer solution (PBS) and alum. Immunized tadpoles received 10 µL of 50/50 solution of 10 µg/µL of keyhole limpet hemocyanin in PBS and alum. Two tadpoles from the control group and four from the immunize group were selected randomly to be sampled every three days. We discovered that the immunized group had a larger spleen than the control group. The antibody levels to KLH will be measured using an ELISA. These results help us in determining the period of time it takes the tadpoles take to isotype switch from IgM to IgY. This information could be used in future research to investigate factors such as stress levels, change in temperature, and change in resource availability could affect the length of time that Rana catesbeiana takes to respond to novel antigens.
