Hartley female guinea pigs, weighing 200g to 250g or 500g, were injected with rat kidney homogenate, the tubular basement membrane (TBM), the Fx1, the liver homogenates and saline in complete Freund's adjuvant and were sacrificed at intervals ranging from 4 to 28 days.No renal lesions were observed in the liver-, Fx1- and saline-injected animals. In guinea pigs weighing 200g to 250g injected with kidney homogenate or TBM, tubulointerstitial nephritis was induced at 14 to 21 days. The lesions were characterized by mononuclear cell infiltrates and tubular cell damage which were observed by light and electron microscopy. However, no immunoglobulin G or C3 deposits along TBM or in the other tissue components were detected.In contrast, in guinea pigs weighing 500g injected with kidney homogenate or TBM, the lesions were characterized by deposition of IgG and C3 along TBM at 14 days, there after tubulo-interstitiall nephritis were developed.Transfer of lymph node cells from kidney-or TBM-injected donor (200g-250g) to irradiated normall recipients resulted in focal interstitial nephritis. However, transfer of irradiated or sonicated lymphh node cells produced no renal lesions. The findings obtained only when young female guinea pigs are used are interpreted as indicating that the tubulo-interstitial lesions results from cell-mediated reactivity against T BM-specific antigens.
