Transplantation of Homologous and Heterologous Lymphoid Cells in X-Irradiated and Non-irradiated Mice

Abstract

The injection of a large number of homologous lymphoid cells kills X-irradiated mice protected with isologous or homologous bone marrow, within 1 to 2 weeks. The injection of a smaller number of homologous lymphoid cells kills the mice after a longer interval. Parental-strain lymphoid cells have a detrimental effect in irradiated F₁ hybrids, but F₁ hybrid lymph-node cells produce no ill effect in parental strain mice. Rat lymphnode cells only have a lethal effect in irradiated mice protected with heterologous bone marrow when the cells are injected at 24 hours after irradiation. On the basis of the number of cells required to produce a certain percentage of mortality, homologous lymphnode cells are somewhat more effective than homologous spleen cells, but much more effective than homologous thymus cells. Mice that died 10 to 20 days or later after injection of homologous or heterologous lymphoid cells had symptoms and lesions which resembled those seen in mice that died from the secondary disease after foreign bone marrow transplantation. A pathological syndrome resembling the secondary disease has been evoked in a certain number of nonirradiated F₁ hybrid mice by the injection of a large number of lymphoid cells from parental strain mice that had been sensitized against isoantigens of the other parental strain. These observations support the concept of a graft-antihost reaction that is involved in the development of secondary disease.