Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Immunology logoLink to Immunology
. 1984 May;52(1):49–54.

Cytotoxic cell populations in normal and alloimmunized pregnant mice.

G Smith, F Chappell
PMCID: PMC1454590  PMID: 6715021

Abstract

Cytotoxic cell activity directed against paternal alloantigens was investigated in primiparous C57BL/10 and CBA/Ca mice using a microcytotoxicity assay. Most allogeneically or syngeneically mated females lacked effector cells in their spleens or paraaortic lymph nodes both during pregnancy and immediately postpartum. However, spleen, cells from 33% of C57BL/10 females mated to CBA/Ca males exhibited low levels of paternal target cell killing (P less than 0.05-0.01). Alloimmunization of virgin mice prior to mating resulted in only allogeneically mated females producing cytotoxic cells and alloantibody. These responses were not detectable during pregnancy but appeared immediately postpartum. The ability of pregnancy to induce memory cell formation was tested by allowing females one successful pregnancy before challenging them postpartum with allogeneic spleen cells. Kinetic studies of cytotoxic cell production showed that C57BL/10 females that had borne (C57BL/10 X CBA/Ca)F1 litters responded earlier than their syngeneically mated sisters giving a peak response at 4 days compared to 7 days after immunization. This indicates that a single allogeneic pregnancy can prime the mother against paternal alloantigens suggesting that the conceptus is weakly immunogenic.

Full text

PDF
49

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Batchelor J. R., Welsh K. I., Maynard A., Burgos H. Failure of long surviving, passively enhanced kidney allografts to provoke T-dependent alloimmunity. I. Retransplantation of (AS X AUG)F1 kidneys into secondary AS recipients. J Exp Med. 1979 Sep 19;150(3):455–464. doi: 10.1084/jem.150.3.455. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Chaouat G., Monnot P., Hoffman M., Chaffaux S. Regulatory mechanisms of cell-mediated immunity in allogeneic pregnancy. Am J Reprod Immunol. 1980;1(1):18–22. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0897.1980.tb00005.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Clark D. A., McDermott M. R., Szewczuk M. R. Impairment of host-versus-graft reaction in pregnant mice. II. Selective suppression of cytotoxic T-cell generation correlates with soluble suppressor activity and with successful allogeneic pregnancy. Cell Immunol. 1980 Jun;52(1):106–118. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Gottesman S. R., Stutman O. Cellular immunity during pregnancy. I. Proliferative and cytotoxic reactivity of paraaortic lymph nodes. Am J Reprod Immunol. 1980;1(1):10–17. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0897.1980.tb00004.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Head J. R., Smith W. G. Pregnancy-induced hyporesponsiveness to paternal alloantigens. II. Factors affecting altered expressions of immunity in parous rats. Transplantation. 1982 Nov;34(5):258–263. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Jenkinson E. J., Searle R. F. Ia antigen expression on the developing mouse embryo and placenta. J Reprod Immunol. 1979 Jan-Feb;1(1):3–10. doi: 10.1016/0165-0378(79)90024-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Lafferty K. J., Woolnough J. The origin and mechanism of the allograft reaction. Immunol Rev. 1977;35:231–262. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-065x.1977.tb00241.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Pavia C. S., Stites D. P. Humoral and cellular regulation of alloimmunity in pregnancy. J Immunol. 1979 Nov;123(5):2194–2200. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Sellens M. H., Jenkinson E. J., Billington W. D. Major histocompatibility complex and non-major histocompatibility complex antigens on mouse ectoplacental cone and placental trophoblastic cells. Transplantation. 1978 Apr;25(4):173–179. doi: 10.1097/00007890-197804000-00003. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Slapsys R. M., Clark D. A. Active suppression of host-vs-graft reaction in pregnant mice. IV. Local suppressor cells in decidua and uterine blood. J Reprod Immunol. 1982 Dec;4(6):355–364. doi: 10.1016/0165-0378(82)90010-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Smith G. In vitro susceptibility of mouse placental trophoblast to cytotoxic effector cells. J Reprod Immunol. 1983 Jan;5(1):39–47. doi: 10.1016/0165-0378(83)90019-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Smith G. Maternal regulator cells during murine pregnancy. Clin Exp Immunol. 1981 Apr;44(1):90–99. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Smith G., Nicklin S. [3H]Uridine uptake by target monolayers as a terminal label in an in vitro cell-mediated cytotoxicity assay. J Immunol Methods. 1979;25(3):265–274. doi: 10.1016/0022-1759(79)90114-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Smith J. A., Burton R. C., Barg M., Mitchell G. F. Maternal alloimmunisation in pregnancy. In vitro studies of T cell-dependent immunity to paternal alloantigens. Transplantation. 1978 Apr;25(4):216–220. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Smith R. N., Powell A. E. The adoptive transfer of pregnancy-induced unresponsiveness to male skin grafts with thymus-dependent cells. J Exp Med. 1977 Sep 1;146(3):899–904. doi: 10.1084/jem.146.3.899. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Tofoski J. G., Gill T. J., 3rd The production of migration inhibitory factor and reproductive capacity in allogeneic pregnancies. Am J Pathol. 1977 Aug;88(2):333–344. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Wegmann T. G., Mosmann T. R., Carlson G. A., Olijnyk O., Singh B. The ability of the murine placenta to absorb monoclonal anti-fetal H-2K antibody from the maternal circulation. J Immunol. 1979 Sep;123(3):1020–1023. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Wegmann T. G., Waters C. A., Drell D. W., Carlson G. A. Pregnant mice are not primed but can be primed to fetal alloantigens. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1979 May;76(5):2410–2414. doi: 10.1073/pnas.76.5.2410. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Immunology are provided here courtesy of British Society for Immunology

RESOURCES