Studies on the pathogenesis of murine experimental autoimmune active hepatitis: sensitized T cell involvement in its induction.

Experimental autoimmune hepatitis was induced in B10.A(5R) mice sensitized by repeated intramuscular injections of syngeneic liver antigens emulsified with complete Freund's adjuvant. A 300R X-irradiation followed by two more injections after the sixth intramuscular sensitization to the mice resulted in active hepatitis with severe piecemeal necrosis. An intravenous adoptive transfer of spleen cells from the sensitized mice into normal syngeneic mice caused hepatitis in recipients which was characterized by extensive focal hepatic cell necrosis in the lobules. The transfer of spleen cells treated with monoclonal anti-Thy-1.2 antibody plus complement failed to induce hepatitis, while the transfer of T cell-enriched spleen cells by the panning method using rabbit anti-mouse immunoglobulin-coated dishes caused a somewhat more severe hepatitis than that caused by the transfer of whole spleen cells of the sensitized mice.