Abstract
Although the anatomical barrier which exists between the pregnant female and her fetus appears to be important, a modification of the immune response to histocompatibility differences may also play a role in the symbiosis of pregnancy. The one-way mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLC) expresses the reactivity of one population of cells against the histocompatibility antigens of another population. Therefore, the MLC was used to test the reactivity of newborns' and maternal lymphocytes to each other. It was found that, although maternal lymphocytes reacted to stimulation by cord blood cells, maternal plasma suppressed this response. It was also found that cord blood lymphocytes were hyporesponsive to stimulation by maternal cells as compared to adolescent-mother controls. This hyporeactivity was intensified in the presence of maternal plasma.
Further in vitro studies revealed that vaccinia to which the subjects had been previously immunized and suboptimal doses of phytohemagglutinin (PHA) stimulated pregnant females' lymphocytes significantly less well than adult males' cells, and that similarly stimulated cultures prepared with plasma from these females inhibited transformation of their own and male donors' lymphocytes. It appears, therefore, that maternal plasma contains factor(s) which inhibit(s) the MLC reaction, antigenic and PHA in vitro lymphocyte stimulation. This inhibitory effect of maternal plasma may be important in modifying the reactivity of maternal cells to fetal tissue. The inhibition of fetal lymphoid cells in the maternal circulation may also afford protection to the mother in a fetal graft-maternal host reaction.
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Leikin, S. The immunosuppressive effects of maternal plasma. Pediatr Res 5, 377 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197108000-00027
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-197108000-00027