Autoreactivity developing spontaneously in cultured mouse spleen cells. III. Inhibition of anti-embryo cytotoxicity in male T lymphocytes by female non-T cells.

Cultured female spleen cells develop less cytotoxicity to embryo-associated antigens than do cultured male spleen cells. This difference is less pronounced if the cells are treated before culture with a specific hetero-anti-B cell antiserum. Female non-T cells (especially from primiparous animals) can decrease the spontaneously developing T-cell cytotoxicity in male splenic T lymphocytes upon culture. By artificially manipulating the T cell: non-T cell ratio in the spleen population prior to culture, it seems one can alter the type of cytotoxic mechanism (to embryo-associated antigens) which develops in the cultures.