Characterization of a helper T lymphocyte defect in vitamin A-deficient mice.

Vitamin A-deficient mice exhibited sharply decreased IgG1 responses to protein Ag in vivo and in vitro. We traced the cellular basis for these impaired responses to a functional defect in A-deficient Th. Ag-presenting cells and B cells from A-deficient mice showed no functional defects. The A-deficient T cells proliferated normally in response to Ag but failed to provide the B cell stimulus for Ag-specific IgG1 responses. The A-deficient mice had fewer Th by limiting dilution analysis, and retinyl acetate supplementation in vitro restored Th frequency to control levels. Because added retinyl acetate reversed the Th functional block, these vitamin A-deficient T cells must be primarily defective in activation, not in establishment of immunologic memory.