Cell-mediated immunity in rats bearing allogeneic skin in the anterior chamber of the eye. I. Response to mitogens.
Early studies have indicated that presentation of donor antigen via the anterior chamber (AC) of the eye diminished the host's ability to react immunologically in vivo. In the present study this reduced immunological activity has been studied in vitro. Compared to spleen cells from control rats, the spleen cells from Lewis rats bearing Brown Norway skin implants in the AC had a mild but consistently reduced in vitro blastogenic response to phytohemagglutinin 10-35 days postimplantation. Either a normal or slightly greater than normal response occurred thereafter. The implant-induced suppression of the mitogenic stimulation was evident only in splenocytes; lymph nodes and thymic lymphocytes from AC-implanted rats responded similarly to controls. The suppressed mitogenic reactivity appears to be specific for the T-cell population since the stimulation in the presence of lipopolysaccharide was no different from that in controls. Furthermore, the reduced activity was greatly enhanced in the T-cell-enriched population. These results suggest that allogeneic skin placed in the AC of the eye depresses the immune activity of the host's splenocytes which may contribute to the privileged nature of the anterior chamber.
D000818:Animals; D000867:Anterior Chamber / Q000276:immunology / Q000601:surgery*; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D005260:Female; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides / Q000276:immunology; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000276:immunology; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D010835:Phytohemagglutinins / Q000276:immunology; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D016038:Skin Transplantation; D013154:Spleen / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000276:immunology; D014181:Transplantation Immunology
D008070:Lipopolysaccharides; D010835:Phytohemagglutinins