Immune response in malnutrition. Effect of protein deficiency on the DNA synthetic response to alloantigens.

To evaluate the DNA synthetic response to alloantigens by lymphocytes from mice fed diets with normal (27%) and low (8%) protein content, we quantitated the uptake of 125IUDR in spleens of lethally irradiated adult F1 hybrids injected with cells with parental C57BL/6 donors kept on either diet. Thymocytes, spleen and lymph node cells from protein-restricted parental mice synthesized higher amounts of DNA than those from normally fed controls. Added thymocytes from either malnourished or normal F1 hybrids had similar inhibitory effects on the response of an active parental inoculum. The results indicate that cells from mice kept on a moderately protein-deficient diet for 3--5 weeks after weaning, have increased capacity to proliferate in response to alloantigens, suggesting a high proportion of reactive cells and/or changes in the ratio of the interacting cell populations in their lymphoid organs.