Chimerism and cytotoxic T lymphocyte unresponsiveness after neonatal injection of spleen cells in mice. Effects of T cell depletion and of a semiallogeneic or fully allogeneic inoculum.

Abstract

Newborn Balb/c mice received a single neonatal injection of either (A/J x Balb/c) F1 hybrid spleen cells, T-cell-depleted (A/J x Balb/c) F1 hybrid spleen cells, or T-cell-depleted fully allogeneic A/J spleen cells. Chimerism was followed longitudinally during the life span by the detection of circulating donor allotype. At sacrifice, the percentage of donor cells in the spleen was measured, and cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) reactivity to the tolerogen was tested. We found that T cell depletion of the semiallogeneic inoculum did not modify its capacity to generate persistent chimerism and CTL tolerance, while T-cell-depleted allogeneic cells were intrinsically deficient both in the induction and in the long-term maintenance of chimerism and CTL unresponsiveness.