| Abstract: | Studies were done on the effects on pregnancy in DBA/2 mice of sensitization prior to pregnancy with certain tissue antigens. Tissues used were paternal testes, spleen and kidney, weanling offspring spleen and kidney, placenta, and embryo. With the exception of the mice receiving placental inoculations, the DBA/2 females did not demonstrate any altered rate of pregnancy, size of litter, or viability of offspring. Female mice receiving placental inoculations showed a slightly decreased rate of pregnancy, although this was not statistically significant. Histological examination of placentas and implantation sites from sensitized mice sacrificed during the second trimester of pregnancy revealed no evidence of immune rejection phenomena. Examination of lung tissue from term pregnant DBA/2 females failed to reveal the presence of trophoblastic emboli and suggests that a strict anatomical separation of mother and fetus occurs in the mouse. Full-thickness allografts to pregnant DBA/2 female mice showed a very slightly accelerated rate of rejection in those animals bearing fetuses with a genetic background similar to the donor of the graft. This slightly accelerated rate of skin graft rejection suggests that paternal antigens present in the conceptus can elicit a detectable immune response in the mother under certain conditions. |
