Functional impairment of T-lymphocytes in mouse radiation chimeras by a nucleotide-free diet.

We examined the effect of a nucleotide-free diet on the immune function of mouse syngeneic bone marrow radiation chimeras. The graft-versus-host disease mortality assay revealed that GVH activity of spleen cells from radiation chimeras fed NFD (RCNFD) was reduced at 6-18 weeks after transplantation as compared with the radiation chimeras fed a control diet (RCCD). When tested 11-18 weeks after transplantation, the proliferative response of RCNFD spleen cells to phytohemagglutinin was significantly reduced at 11 and 13 weeks, the response to pokeweed mitogen (PWM) was significantly reduced at 11, 13, and 15 weeks, and the response to bacterial lipopolysaccharide remained virtually unaffected. At both six and eight weeks after transplantation, RCNFD and RCCD showed comparable numbers of CFUc/femur. RCNFD and RCCD did not differ significantly from each other in body weights or in spleen and bone marrow cellularity at 6-18 weeks after transplantation. These results suggest that dietary nucleotides are important for the normal function of mouse T-lymphocytes.