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Age-Associated Decline in the in Vitro Development of Cytotoxic Lymphocytes in NZB Mice

Laboratory of Cellular and Comparative Physiology, Gerontology Research Center, National Institute on Aging, National Institures of Health, Public Health Service, United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Bethesda, Maryland, and Baltimore City Hospitals, Baltimore, Maryland 21224

Abstract

The development of cytotoxic lymphocytes (CL) in in vitro mixed lymphocyte culture (MLC) was investigated in young (14 weeks), middle (40 weeks), and aged (80 weeks) NZB mice. Cytotoxic activity against H-2^b alloantigens was measured by using the ⁵¹Cr release assay. The antigen dose to elicit the optimum development of CL in vitro was the same for all ages of NZB mice, but the level of the development of CL was consistently low and could be delayed by up to 24 hr in aged mice. This decline in the development of CL was not related to the increase of the frequency of autoantibody against red blood cells nor to the decrease of the frequency of -positive cells in aged NZB mice. Aged (83 weeks) DBA/2 mice showed a similar decline in the development of CL. This decline of T cell function in aged NZB mice might be related to a physiologic aging process rather than to autoimmune disease.