Liver Changes in Sublethally Irradiated Mice Undergoing the Foreign Spleen Reaction

Abstract

The injection of sublethally irradiated F1 hybrid mice with parental strain spleen cells is followed by a severe wasting disease called the foreign spleen reaction (1, 2). This disease is associated with inflammatory changes in lymphoid tissues, atrophy of hemopoietic tissues, and histologic changes in the liver consisting of periportal infiltration by mononuclear and polynuclear leukocytes, vacuolization of hepatic parenchymal cells, and foci of parenchymal cell necrosis (3). Some of these liver lesions appear to be of sufficient severity to cause alteration of liver function. Histologic changes in the liver occurring after irradiation alone (4, 5) and irradiation accompanied by transplantation of hemopoietic cells (6, 7) have been described. In this study an attempt was made to correlate the degree of vacuolation and amount of stainable fat in hepatic cells with the results of bromosulfalein liver function tests in animals undergoing the foreign spleen reaction.