Nephrotoxic nephritis in nude mice.

We investigated the role of T cells in the pathogenesis of murine nephrotoxic nephritis (NTN). The disease was produced by injecting congenitally athymic nude (nu/nu) mice and their normal heterozygous (nu/+) littermates with rabbit anti-rat glomerular basement membrane (GBM) antiserum. Within 2-4 weeks we noted marked thrombotic lesions and depositions of mouse IgG, IgM, C3 and rabbit IgG along the GBM in both groups of mice. There was no significant difference in the extent of glomerular involvement between the two groups of mice. We conclude that T cell immunodeficiency plays no role in the development of severe glomerular lesions in murine NTN.