Effects of protein-calorie restriction on the immune response to skin allografts in the rat.
The effect of protein depletion on immune responsiveness was examined using a skin allograft model. Protein depletion was induced in adult Fischer (F344) male rats by the ad libitum provision of a 5% protein diet. Total serum protein, total body weight, total body nitrogen, and total body lipid were all markedly decreased in these rats. Skin from control-fed Brown Norway (BN) male rats was grafted to the middorsal region of control and protein-depleted F344 rats. BN skin allografts survived significantly longer on protein-depleted recipients (13.3 days) than on controls (8.5 days). Splenic lymphoid cells from skin grafted F344 rats were assayed for cytotoxicity against BN and F344 lymphoid cells in a 51Cr release assay. At effector to target ratios of 50:, 100:, and 200:1, spleen cells from control rats exhibited greater than 35% allospecific cytotoxicity 8 days after grafting. Spleen cells from protein-depleted rats exhibited no greater than 10% cytotoxicity from 6 to 15 days after grafting. A depression of cytotoxicity by protein depletion was also observed in rats immunized by i.p. injection of BN spleen cells. Heat-inactivated sera from skin grafted F344 rats were assayed against BN and F344 lymphoid cells in a complement-dependent trypan blue exclusion assay. Cytotoxic alloantibodies were measurable in both control and protein-depleted rats 9 days after grafting, but were of significantly lower titer in the protein-depleted group. The results indicate that both humoral and cell-mediated immune responses to alloantigens are impaired by protein-calorie malnutrition.
Austin
E H
EH
Surgery Branch, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20205, USA.
Brennan
M F
MF
Rosenberg
S A
SA
D000818:Animals; D001798:Blood Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D004032:Diet; D018753:Diet, Protein-Restricted; D007111:Immunity, Cellular; D008297:Male; D011502:Protein-Energy Malnutrition / Q000276:immunology*; D011506:Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D051381:Rats; D011914:Rats, Inbred BN; D011916:Rats, Inbred F344; D016038:Skin Transplantation / Q000276:immunology*; D013997:Time Factors; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous / Q000276:immunology
D001798:Blood Proteins; D011506:Proteins