Immune responsiveness in offspring of adoptively immunized mothers.
The rate of appearance of cells forming 19S hemolytic antibody (PFC) in the spleens of F1 newborn mice after adoptive anti-paternal immunization of fetuses, newborns and/or their mothers during pregnancy has been studied. An increase in the number of PFC was found at the age of 6 to 11 days in offspring of adoptively immunized mothers. These newborns, even when foster nursed by untreated mothers, still had a significantly higher number of PFC in comparison to the controls. In contrast, adoptive immunization of the newborns themselves resulted in a decrease of PFC during the second week after birth. Several possible explanations for the obtained results are discussed including the putative transplacental passage of immunocompetent cells.
D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn / Q000276:immunology; D000833:Animals, Suckling / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D006087:Graft vs Host Reaction; D007112:Immunity, Maternally-Acquired; D007116:Immunization, Passive; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008808:Mice, Inbred CBA; D011247:Pregnancy