Effect of avitaminosis B6 in mice on T-lymphocyte function in vitro

The effect of different degrees of avitaminosis B₆ in mice on the cytolytic activity of T lymphocytes, measured as the quantity of Na₂Cr⁵¹O₄ released from lysed target cells, was studied on a model of the primary immune response in a mixed lymphocyte culture in vitro. Keeping animals for 3 weeks on a diet without pyridoxine did not affect the ability of the lymphocytes to proliferate in vitro or their cytolytic activity. In animals receiving a diet without pyridoxine for 45 days the content of pyridoxal-5-phosphate in the spleen was 55% lower than in the control. Lymphocytes taken from these animals, when cultured in vitro, showed sharply weakened ability to incorporate ³H]thymidine into DNA in response to the alloantigen. The cytolytic activity of these lymphocytes also was reduced. The ability of different forms of pyridoxine to restore the functions of T lymphocytes, when disturbed by avitaminosis B₆, was studied.Laboratory of Systemic Blood Diseases, Oncologic Scientific Center, Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR, Moscow. (Presented by Academician of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR N. A. Kraevskii.) Translated from Byulleten' Éksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 84, No. 8, pp. 185–188, August, 1977.