Cell-mediated immunity in Treponema pallidum infected rabbits: in vitro response of splenic and lymph node lymphocytes to mitogens and specific antigens.

Peripheral blood lymphocytes from Treponema pallidum infected rabbits respond poorly to mitogen and specific antigens when cultured in the presence of autologous serum. Reactivity of lymphocytes from the spleen and popliteal lymph nodes of T. pallidum infected rabbits have therefore been examined by lymphocyte transformation using the mitogens phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) and concanavalin A (Con A) and extracts of T. pallidum. Spleen cell populations, both T cell enriched (by nylon wool elution) and non-nylon wool treated, which respond to T. pallidum as early as ten days post infection in normal serum, were suppressed in responses to T. pallidum when cultured in autologous serum. The same lymphocytes responded normally to PHA and Con A. Lymph node cells from infected rabbits responded normally to both T. pallidum antigen and mitogens in either autologous or normal rabbit serum. These data indicate that splenic lymphocytes are sensitive to regulatory factors in autologous serum during the early stages of T. pallidum infection whereas lymph node cells are not.