Induction of multifocal lesions of the testis by passive transfer of immune cells.
Spleen cells obtained from Wistar rats bearing a multifocal damage of the testis that had been induced by an antiserum against a non-collagenous fraction of basement membranes, were able to transfer similar testicular lesions into normal recipients. Damage was characterized by multiple foci of seminiferous tubules with different degrees of cell sloughing and a mild interstitial mononuclear cell infiltrate. The incidence of testicular damage in the transferred recipients was 83%, while in the control group of rats transferred with spleen cells from donors that had been injected with normal rabbit serum only 4% of the animals presented mild lesions. In order to determine which lymphocyte subpopulations were effective in transferring the disease, rat spleen cells were treated with murine monoclonal antibodies W3/25 and OX8 or with a rabbit anti-rat IgG serum and complement, before the transfer. A multifocal damage of the testes, indistinguishable from that obtained with the untreated spleen cells was transferred in 50% and 25% of the rats injected with spleen cells depleted in B or in T lymphocytes, respectively. The most severe lesions were observed in the rats transferred with cell populations depleted in B cells.
D000818:Animals; D000954:Antigens, Surface / Q000032:analysis; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D001485:Basement Membrane / Q000276:immunology; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D007106:Immune Sera; D007111:Immunity, Cellular; D007116:Immunization, Passive; D008297:Male; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D013737:Testis / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology*
D000954:Antigens, Surface; D007106:Immune Sera