Disappearance of xenogenic astrocytes transplanted into newborn mice is associated with a T-cell response.
Following transplantation of fragments of embryonic rabbit brain into the brains of newborn mice, the proportion of mice bearing detectable xenogenic astrocytes increases to over 80% in the first 3-4 weeks. Recent studies have demonstrated that the host response at this time was dominated by non-specific elements of host defense: macrophages, microglia and astrocytes. In the second phase, the proportion of mice bearing xenogenic astrocytes declines rapidly after 4 weeks and reaches zero by 10 weeks. In the present experiments, designed to characterize the host defense during this period, a dramatic increase in the proportion of mice displaying T-cells in the brain in the fourth and fifth weeks after transplantation was found. This corresponded with a marked decline of xenogenic astrocytes. Both subsets of T-cell, helper-inducer (L3T4) and cytotoxic-suppressor (Lyt2), were found, with L3T4 more numerous in many samples. T-cells were found at the site of transplantation and at sites of migration. The division of the host-defense response in this model into a phase of antigen non-specific cells followed by a period when T-cells appear and transplanted astrocytes disappear, should facilitate kinetic studies into the mechanisms of brain-graft rejection.
Booss
J
J
INSERM U-134, Hôpital de la Salpêtrière, Paris, France.
Suard
I
I
Collins
P V
PV
Jacque
C
C
D000818:Animals; D000950:Antigens, Ly / Q000032:analysis; D001253:Astrocytes / Q000276:immunology / Q000637:transplantation*; D001921:Brain / Q000276:immunology; D016380:Brain Tissue Transplantation / Q000276:immunology*; D003337:Corpus Callosum / Q000276:immunology / Q000637:transplantation*; D016332:Fetal Tissue Transplantation / Q000276:immunology; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D007111:Immunity, Cellular; D008264:Macrophages / Q000276:immunology; D051379:Mice; D008805:Mice, Inbred A; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D011817:Rabbits; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D014183:Transplantation, Heterologous
D000950:Antigens, Ly