Journal of Experimental Medicine, Vol 154, 821-831, Copyright © 1981 by Rockefeller University Press
Aging and antimicrobial immunity. Impaired production of mediator T cells as a basis for the decreased resistance of senescent mice to listeriosis
PJ Patel
Immunity to infection of mice with the facultative, intracellular pathogen
Listeria monocytogenes was employed as a model system to investigate the
immunological basis for the age-associated decline in anti-microbial
immunity. In response to a sublethal immunizing infection, aged (24-mo old
or more) mice displayed a smaller increase in spleen weight, spleen
cellularity, and splenic T cell content than young (3- to 4-mo-old) mice.
Aged mice also generated a smaller number of anti-Listeria protective T
cells at the time of a peak response, in that their spleen cells were
1,000-fold less protective than equivalent numbers of spleen cells from the
young donors, even when enriched T cell populations were employed. These
results suggest that the impaired ability of aged mice to produce
protective T cells is mainly responsible for decreased resistance of these
mice to infection with Listeria.
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