Specific neonatally-induced tolerance to rat male accessory glands antigens. Transference of specific suppression by spleen mononuclear cells.
The immune response of infant rats was studied following (1) immunization of their mothers with modified rat male accessory glands (MRAG) emulsified in complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA), (5 mg/ml or 25 mg/ml) or with human serum albumin (HSA), (5 mg/ml or 25 mg/ml) and (2) intradermal immunization of the offspring at 21 days of age with 5 mg of MRAG-CFA and 5 mg of HSA-CFA. Antibodies to MRAG or to HSA were observed in the sera obtained 20 days after the birth of the offspring. Delayed hypersensitivity (DTH) against MRAG studied 13 days after immunization was significantly reduced in the male offspring born to mothers immunized with 5 mg of MRAG-CFA compared with that of males born to mothers immunized with the same dose of HSA-CFA (P less than 0.0005). In contrast, when 25 mg of MRAG-CFA were used to immunize the mothers, the lack of DTH response to MRAG was observed in male and female offspring (P less than 0.0005 for both groups). In all cases, the DTH response to HSA was positive. The spleen mononuclear (SpM) cells transferred from rats unresponsive to MRAG to normal rats 24 h before the immunization with MRAG-CFA and HSA-CFA did not suppress the immune response whereas transference of SpM cells from suppressed animals to animals previously immunized depressed the DTH response to MRAG (suppression of the expression). The response to HSA was not affected. We can conclude that the suppression is antigen specific.
Yranzo-Volonte
N
N
Inmunologia y Serologia, Facultad de Ciencias Quimicas, Universidad Nacional de Cordoba, Argentina.
Ferro
M E
ME
Riera
C M
CM
D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D005837:Genitalia, Male / Q000276:immunology; D006968:Hypersensitivity, Delayed / Q000276:immunology; D007108:Immune Tolerance / Q000276:immunology*; D007112:Immunity, Maternally-Acquired; D007114:Immunization; D007116:Immunization, Passive; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D013154:Spleen / Q000166:cytology / Q000637:transplantation