Peng H J, Turner M W, Strobel S
Department of Immunology, Institute of Child Health, London, U.K.
Pediatr Res. 1989 Nov;26(5):486-90. doi: 10.1203/00006450-198911000-00025.
We have examined the mechanisms that prevent the induction of oral tolerance to protein antigens in neonatal mice. Serum collected from adult mice 1 h after feeding ovalbumin (1 mg/g body wt) was adoptively transferred to mice aged 1, 3, and 42 d (40 microL/g body wt). Whereas delayed-type hypersensitivity was significantly suppressed in adult recipients relative to control groups, no suppression of systemic delayed-type hypersensitivity was found in neonatal recipients. In attempts to identify the immunologic deficiency that prevents mature reactivity to protein antigens in neonates, adult splenocytes were transferred intraperitoneally (10(8) cells/recipient) 24 h before a feed of OVA (1 mg/g body wt) to neonates. Significant suppression of their systemic DTH response, but not of their anti-ovalbumin IgG antibody response was observed, indicating that spleen cell transfer only partially confers adult-type reactivity. Similar results were obtained using a second protein antigen, BSA. Our observations suggest that the failure to induce oral tolerance to protein antigens in neonatal mice is not simply due to immature antigen processing by the gut, but probably reflects cellular and/or antigen handling immaturity of the neonatal immune system.
我们研究了新生小鼠中阻止对蛋白质抗原产生口服耐受的机制。给成年小鼠喂食卵清蛋白（1毫克/克体重）1小时后收集的血清，以过继转移的方式注入1日龄、3日龄和42日龄的小鼠体内（40微升/克体重）。相对于对照组，成年受体中的迟发型超敏反应受到显著抑制，但在新生受体中未发现全身迟发型超敏反应受到抑制。为了确定阻止新生儿对蛋白质抗原产生成熟反应性的免疫缺陷，在给新生小鼠喂食OVA（1毫克/克体重）前24小时，经腹腔注射成年脾细胞（10⁸个细胞/受体）。观察到它们的全身迟发型超敏反应受到显著抑制，但抗卵清蛋白IgG抗体反应未受抑制，这表明脾细胞转移仅部分赋予成年型反应性。使用第二种蛋白质抗原牛血清白蛋白（BSA）也获得了类似结果。我们的观察结果表明，新生小鼠未能对蛋白质抗原诱导口服耐受并非仅仅是由于肠道中抗原处理不成熟，而可能反映了新生免疫系统在细胞和/或抗原处理方面的不成熟。
