Abstract
A lymphocyte transfer reaction, which is one of the most valuable and direct means to know the immunological functions of lymphocytes in vivo, was performed using juvenile rainbow trout Salmo gairdneri, steelhead trout S. gairdneri, kokanee (sockeye) salmon Oncorhynchus nerka and masu salmon O. masou. The trout and salmon were immunized by the intraperitoneal injection of washed goldfish red blood cells (GFRBC), and after 5 days or 1 week, lymphcytes were isolated from the blood and spleen of GFRBC-primed donors. The lymphocytes were transferred to unprimed recipients by an intravascular injection and the recipients were kept at 10°C for 5 days or 1 week. When lymphocytes from donors were transferred to recipients in the relations of rainbow trout-to-rainbow trout and steelhead trout-to-rainbow trout, the antibody of the recipients was assayed at high leveled titers similar to the normal antibody response. However, transferability of an ability to synthesize antibody could not be traced throughout transferred lymphocytes in the relations of kokanee salmon-to-rainbow trout and masu salmon-to-rainbow trout. Thus, lymphocytes in trout belonging to S. gairdneri can cuccessfully be transplanted without encountering rejection in recipients, even though trout used as donors and recipients are regarded as an outbred line in immunogenetics.
