Masugi nephritis in T cell-depleted state. Influence of adult thymectomy and anti-thymocyte serum.

The effects of surgical removal of the thymus or the administration of antiserum to thymus-derived lymphocytes on the development of Masugi nephritis were investigated in Wistar rats. While thymectomy at weaning (ATx) had no significant effect on the humoral antibody response to injected rabbit IgG, repeated injections of rabbit anti-rat thymocyte serum (ATS) suppressed it remarkably. Both treatments did not show morphological evidences that glomerular inflammation and injury were suppressed in the autologous phase of Masugi nephritis. Glomerular lesions in rats receiving the nephrotoxic serum (NTS) one month after ATx (ATx-1+NTS) appeared to be severer in hypercellularity, mitotic counts, the amount of deposited fibrin-related substances and crescent formation than those in other nephritic groups. Morphological study of ATS+NTS rats revealed that the glomerular changes were nearly equal to those of NTS-injected control rats, in spite of markedly suppressed humoral response to injected rabbit IgG and the absence of host IgG along the glomerular capillary walls.