Effect of chorionic gonadotropin on the regulation of the functional activity of antigen-specific T-suppressors

Abstract

Effects of chorionic gonadotropin (CG) on the functional activity of antigen-specific T-suppressors generated in CBA mice on day 14 by supraoptimal dose of thymus-dependent antigen were studied. The activity of T-suppressors was assessed by the level of antibody-producing (ABP) cells forming in the organism of suppressor cell recipients immunized with the same antigen. CG was injected to intact and oophorectomized recipient mice or was directly incubated in a one-hour cell culture with antigenspecific suppressor cells which were then transplanted to intact female mice. CG in a dose of 40 or 200 IU did not influence the capacity of T-suppressors to suppress primary immune response in intact females. In oophorectomized animals the hormone statistically reliably decreased the activity of T-suppressors, no matter what its dose were, and depressed the splenocyte activity. In a cell culture CG similarly depressed T-suppressor functional activity without influencing their homing.