Factors modifying the Post-Radiation Effects of Homologous Spleen

Abstract

IN 1954 Barnes and Loutit1, investigating an unrelated problem, observed that splenic cell suspensions from infant mice can protect adult homologous recipients from the early death induced by supra-lethal X-radiation. The protected animals died after 30 days apparently from what is now recognized as ‘secondary disease’. Using different mouse strain combinations, Schwartz et al.2 noted that administration of adult parental splenic cells into supra-lethally X-radiated F1 hybrid animals results in an early death of the injected recipients, to the extent that they die even earlier than the uninoculated irradiated controls. A similar phenomenon of early mortality was also observed by Cole et al.3, who showed that parental adult mouse spleen cells induce death within a week when given to sub-lethally X-radiated F1 hybrids. Splenic cells from the same parental strain were also able to induce death within 8 weeks in some of the injected F1 non-irradiated recipients. Makinodan et al.4, using completely homologous combinations and supra-lethal X-radiation, were also able to confirm the observations of the early death induced by the infusion of the splenic adult cells.