Osburn B I, MacLachlan N J, Terrell T G
J Am Vet Med Assoc. 1982 Nov 15;181(10):1049-52.
Cellular and humoral aspects of the immune response develop sequentially in the fetus. Although there is evidence of immunologic activity to some antigens, many of the nonimmune effector systems are neither developed nor fully functional in the fetus. The lack of fully functional systems make the fetus a highly susceptible candidate for invading bacteria and viruses. Often, infection prior to immune competence may lead to abortion, malformation, and in some instances, viral persistence and immune tolerance. On the other hand, immune responses tend to elevate immunoglobulin values and cause specific antibody that may be used for diagnostic purposes. Little work has been done to appreciate fully the immunologic and nonimmune effector systems' role in normal development or during congenital infections.
免疫反应的细胞和体液方面在胎儿体内是相继发育的。尽管有证据表明胎儿对某些抗原具有免疫活性，但许多非免疫效应系统在胎儿体内既未发育成熟也未完全发挥功能。缺乏完全功能的系统使胎儿成为入侵细菌和病毒的高度易感对象。通常，在免疫能力形成之前发生感染可能导致流产、畸形，在某些情况下还会导致病毒持续存在和免疫耐受。另一方面，免疫反应往往会提高免疫球蛋白值并产生可用于诊断目的的特异性抗体。对于充分认识免疫和非免疫效应系统在正常发育或先天性感染过程中的作用，目前所做的工作很少。
