Cell-mediated cytotoxicity and humoral immune response in ascorbic acid-deficient guinea pigs.
Guinea pigs were divided into three dietary groups: ascorbic-acid deficient, pair-fed, and ad libitum control. Two weeks later guinea pigs were immunized intradermally with 5 x 10(8) chicken erythrocytes in Freund's complete adjuvant. Hemagglutinating antibody titers to chicken erythrocytes 2 weeks after immunization were comparable in all three dietary groups. In vitro 51Cr release from labeled chicken erythrocyte target cells incubated with lymphoid cells from spleens of ascorbic acid-deficient guinea pigs was significantly less than with spleen cells from pair-fed and ad libitum control guinea pigs. The percentage of splenic lymphoid cells that formed rosettes with rabbit erythrocytes, a T cell marker, was the same in all three dietary groups. The defect of ascorbic acid deficiency may reflect an impairment of T lymphocytes function in cell-mediated cytotoxicity or a change in number or function of another cell type.
D000818:Animals; D000917:Antibody Formation; D001206:Ascorbic Acid Deficiency / Q000276:immunology*; D001835:Body Weight; D002645:Chickens / Q000276:immunology; D002857:Chromium / Q000097:blood; D003602:Cytotoxicity, Immunologic; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D006168:Guinea Pigs; D006386:Hemagglutination Tests; D007111:Immunity, Cellular; D008297:Male; D012397:Rosette Formation; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology
D002857:Chromium