Experimental autoimmune type of vasculitis resulting from activation of mouse lymphocytes to cultured endothelium.

BALB/c splenic lymphocytes were activated by co-culturing in vitro and in vivo with an endothelial cell line derived from outbred mouse brain capillaries. The lymphocytes underwent proliferation, and after intravenous injection into syngeneic mice, vasculitis was found in lungs, brain, and other organs between 3 and 8 days postinjection. Controls consisted of normal lymphocytes, lymphocytes activated by phytohemaglutinin in vitro, and lymphocytes activated in vivo by cultured fibroblasts or Freund's complete adjuvant. The control lymphocytes did not cause vasculitis when injected into syngeneic mice. Lymphocytes activated by endothelium displayed nonspecific cytotoxicity by 51Cr release against both endothelial and fibroblast cell lines.