AUTOIMMUNE OOPHORITIS IN THYMECTOMIZED MICE - T-CELL REQUIREMENT IN ADOPTIVE CELL TRANSFER

Abstract

Experimental autoimmune oophoritis characterized by rapid loss of oocytes with infiltration of lymphocytes and circulating anti-oocyte antibodies was induced in (C57B1/6Cr .times. A/JCr)F1 mice after thymectomy (Tx) at a critical age of 3 days (Tx-3) but not 0 or 7 days after birth without any sensitization. The lesion of the ovary was passively transferred into neonatal, but not adult, mice 7 days after i.p. injection of spleen cells (107) obtained from syngeneic donors with oophoritis. The spleen cells prepared from Tx-3 donors, depleted of T cells by incubation with anti-Thy 1.2 antiserum plus guinea pig complement (GPC), showed no transfer capacity. The spleen cells prepared from the same donors, depleted of B cells with anti-Ig antiserum plus GPC, still kept the capacity to induce oophoritis. The presence of autoreactive T cells against ovarian tissues in Tx-3 mice which are capable of inducing oophoritis is indicated.