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EFFECT OF INTERSTRAIN PREGNANCY ON THE IMMUNE STATUS OF FEMALE MICE SENSITIZED TO PATERNAL ANTIGENS

The factors responsible for the immunological autonomy of the mammalian conceptus are poorly understood (Billingham, 1964). Pregnancy is unaffected by a variety of immunological insults. Immunization of the female against allogeneic paternal tissue has no effect on subsequent pregnancies (Lanman, Dinerstein & Fikrig, 1962). Previous studies (Currie, 1969) have confirmed the observations of Breyere & Barrett (1960) that pregnancy in the mouse induces a specific immunological defect involving paternal strain transplantation antigens and have extended them to show that this non-reactivity may be a form of antibody-mediated immunological enhancement. It is possible that this nonreactivity may play a part in protecting the conceptus from immune destruction.

This communication describes a simple experiment designed to assess the effects of inter-strain murine pregnancy across a major histocompatability barrier on the immune status of females previously immunized against paternal tissue and to show