Abstract
BURNET'S suggestion that self tolerance was gained during foetal life by elimination of self reactive clones of lymphocytes1 has gained support from studies with lymphoid chimaeras prepared by injection of either foetal or neonatal animals with histoincompatible spleen cells2; by injection of irradiated adult F1 hybrid mice with parental-type bone marrow cells3, or by fusion of eight-cell-stage embryos4. However, in some situations active suppression by blocking factors5 or by suppressor T cells6 may account for the lack of reactivity in apparently tolerant animals, although it is likely that these mechanisms operate only when tolerance is incompletely induced7. We describe here an in vitro model for the study of transplantation tolerance and offer evidence that active suppression by regulatory T cells is not involved. Unresponsiveness to mixed lymphocyte culture (MLC)-stimulating determinants on histoincompatible cells was induced in foetal murine thymocytes in organ culture by incubation of foetal thymus, of 14-d gestation, in contact with mitomycin-treated fragments of adult allogeneic spleen (Fig. 1).
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References
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ROBINSON, J., OWEN, J. Transplantation tolerance induced in foetal mouse thymus in vitro. Nature 271, 758–760 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1038/271758a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/271758a0
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