The kinetics and mechanisms for secretion of antibodies against native and denatured collagen type II have been studied in spontaneously arthritic MRL/l mice. Circulating antibodies were quantified by an ELISA assay and frequencies of specific antibody secreting spleen cells by an ELISPOT assay. The degree of humoral immunity to collagen type II increased at late stages of the disease (6 months of age) whereas severe synovitis was seen earlier (5 months of age). Both the appearance of anti-collagen II producing cells and development of synovitis was preceded by and not correlated with a general state of polyclonal B cell activation. In MRL/l mice, collagen II specific antibodies appeared spontaneously and titres were largely unaffected by collagen II immunization. The levels of circulating anti-collagen II antibodies in MRL/l mice were lower, and the antibodies displayed lower avidities and different specificities as compared with the antibodies generated in collagen II high responder DBA/l mice after immunization with collagen II. It is suggested that the antibody response in MRL/l mice against collagen type II does not need MHC-restricted T cell help and that induction of antibody production to collagen II in MRL/l mice is triggered by joint cartilage destruction and subsequent collagen II release.