Strain Differences in Production of Murine Interferons

Abstract

Studies were conducted comparing interferon production of various mouse strains. Methods used included the production of interferon in vivo and in vitro using spleen cell cultures. Strain differences observed in vivo were generally consistent with the results obtained using cell culture methods. In general, high-producing strains in vivo were also high producers using in vitro methods. Strain differences in vivo were greatest using BCG with old Tuberculin (OT) as a challenge. In general, BDF1 and C57BL/6J mice were high producers while BALB/cByJ and NZB/BLNJ were consistently low responders to both type I and type II interferon inducers. C3H/He and HA/ICR mice could be classified as intermediate interferon producers.