Cellular immunity in experimental glomerulonephritis of rats. I. Delayed hypersensitivity and lymphocyte stimulation studies with renal tubular antigens.

Experimental glomerulonephritis (EGN) was produced in Sprague-Dawley rats with a single intradermal injection of a renal tubular fraction called Fx1A. Presence of disease was confirmed by proteinuria and by light and electron microscopic changes. This antigen and also the non-nephritogenic antigen, Fx1B, were used to study cellular immunity in nephritic and three groups of control rats. 64 per cent (9/14) of the Fx1A immunized rats gave delayed hypersensitivity skin tests to Fx1A. The difference between the experimental and the three control groups was highly significant. Peripheral blood lymphocyte culture responses to Fx1A, Fx1B, phytohaemagglutinin-P, were studied in the nephritic and control groups. 77 per cent (10/13) of Fx1A immunized animals showed stimulation of their lymphocyte cultures with Fx1A. None of the control groups showed any significant stimulation. These experiments have demonstrated cellular immunity in EGN and support the possibility that these mechanisms may play a role in the production of this disease.