The effect of antigenic strength and immunisation on the popliteal lymph node allograft response

Suppression of inflammation by cyclosporin A is mediated via a T lymphocyte-independent process

An athymic mutant rat strain was used to examine the hypothesis that modification of diseases with an inflammatory component by cyclosporin A (CsA) results from the suppression of nonspecific inflammatory mechanisms, rather than T-lymphocyte function, as is commonly inferred. Confirmation that the animal host was grossly depleted of T cells was obtained from anatomic and morphologic examination and functional tests of T-lymphocyte responsiveness. The experimental approach was to determine the effect of CsA on the course of experimentally induced infection with Escherichia coli, and extracellular pathogen. Host protection against this microorganism is dependent on an effective nonspecific inflammatory response. CsA administration prior to bacterial challenge resulted in a highly significant increase in bacterial numbers in the kidneys of both euthymic and athymic hosts. The data have provided a direct demonstration that modulation of the nonspecific inflammatory response by CsA can occur via a T lymphocyte-independent process.

Pyelonephritis: the role of cell-mediated immunity defined in a congenitally athymic rat

Thymus-derived lymphocytes (T-cells) have been shown to be present in the inflammatory infiltrate in renal infection but their role in host defense mechanisms has not been defined. Indirect evidence suggested that T-cells contributed to host protection but selective depletion of T-cells did not influence the course of pyelonephritis. In the present report, the characteristics of the athymic New Zealand nude rat (rnunz), which lacks T-lymphocytes, are detailed. This mutant was then used to assess the effect of an absence of T-cells on the bacteriological and histopathological features of pyelonephritis. No significant differences in the bacteriological course of the disease were found. Apart from fewer lymphocytes in the kidney lesions of nude rats and a slight, lag in the resolution of these lesions, no differences were observed in the histopathological course either. These observations, which have analyzed the quantitative relationship between cell-mediated immunity (CMI) and host resistance to renal infection, have shown that a gross reduction in CMI does not affect host resistance once bacteria have gained access to the kidney.

Impairment of cell-mediated immunity in Pseudomonas aeruginosa pyelonephritis: lack of suppressor cell activity in vivo

Bacterial pyelonephritis was induced in mice by direct microinoculation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in the kidney. In the acute phase of P. aeruginosa pyelonephritis, a state of cell-mediated immunity impairment, evaluated both in vitro as lymphocyte reactivity to concanavalin A and in vivo as host versus graft reaction has been observed. Furthermore, delayed-type hypersensitivity to specific bacterial antigen has been detected only when the kidney infection was subsiding, i.e., 3 weeks after bacteria inoculation. When investigating the mechanism of such T-cell impairment, we were unable to transfer the immunodepression, suggesting that suppressor cells are not involved in vivo. The role of P. aeruginosa inhibition of cell-mediated immunity in the pyelonephritic host is discussed.

Genetics of histocompatibility in mice. III. Characteristics of the popliteal lymph-node response to minor (non-H-2) H antigens

The response to spleen cells incompatible at defined histocompatibility, H, loci was studied using the popliteal lymph-node enlargement test to establish its applicability as a method for detecting minor H antigens. This test was able to detect H-2 and H-Y antigens as well as most of the minor H antigens represented by 23 different strains congenic with C57BL/6By. Responses of both naive and immunized recipients were examined, and time-courses of the response were obtained for ten donor strains. These curves revealed that different antigens elicited responses that differed in timing and magnitude of peak enlargements, and that the two parameters were not closely correlated. Both the peak magnitude and the slope of the primary response were correlated with skin-graft rejection, however. The response to individual minor antigens did not appear to be dose-dependent above a threshold. Irradiation of donor cells had strain-dependent effects on the elicited response. Irradiation of recipients appeared to abrogate the primary response but not the responses of previously primed recipients in the combination tested. None of the responses studied had any demonstrable graft-versus-host component.