Development of antiserum against veiled (dendritic) cells of canine afferent lymph: implications for transplantation biology.

A method is described for production of anti-veiled cell serum against veiled cells (VC) or dendritic cells obtained from canine skin lymph. By use of discontinuous Percoll gradient, VC from lymph were enriched to about 50% of the entire lymph cell population. After immunization of rabbits with the priming total dose of 10(7) VC (intramuscular, subcutaneous, intracutaneous) and with the same total booster injection (intravenous), the sera obtained were cytotoxic mainly for VC, with cytotoxin titer 1:16-1:32 and for agglutinin 1:256-1:512, respectively. Antisera used in vitro blocked the Ia and CD1 antigens of VC on smears and inhibited the accessory function of VC in cell response to phytohemagglutinin (PHA) and their stimulatory activity in mixed leukocyte reaction (MLR). In vivo, the local, intracutaneous administration of antisera led to transient depletion of VC from afferent lymph, and to reduction of mononuclear cells in the T-dependent areas in regional lymph nodes.