A rat model of purine nucleoside phosphorylase deficiency.

Purine nucleoside phosphorylase (NP; EC 2.4.2.1) deficiency is associated with selective T-cell dysfunction and normal B-cell immunity. In order to create an in vivo model of this immune deficiency, we administered 8-aminoguanosine to rats. This water-soluble nucleoside was rapidly converted by NP to the more potent inhibitor 8-aminoguanine, which has a Ki of 0.19 microM. The accumulation of inosine in plasma showed that administration of 8-aminoguanosine was effectively inhibiting NP activity. The administration of 8-aminoguanosine with deoxyguanosine produced increased levels of dGTP only in thymus cells, and increased levels of GTP in cells from thymus, spleen and lymph node and in red cells. This correlated with assays of deoxyguanosine kinase, which showed significantly higher activity in thymus cells than in cells from spleen and lymph node. The intraperitoneal injection of 8-aminoguanosine alone or with deoxyguanosine for 8 consecutive days caused significant decreases in the number of thymus cells (P less than 0.001) and in lymph node and spleen lymphocytes (P less than 0.01). These data showed that the administration of 8-aminoguanosine to rats provided an animal model of NP deficiency that will allow studies of the specific regulation of T-cell function.