THE ABSENCE OF ANY EFFECT OF MATERNAL/ FETAL INCOMPATIBILITY AT THE H-2 AND H-3 LOCI ON PREGNANCY IN THE MOUSE

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Abstract
Summary. In a series of matings between congenic strains of mice, differing at the H-2 or H-3 histocompatibility loci, decidual weight and lumbar and caudal lymph-node weight on the 7th day of pregnancy and placental and fetal weight and lumbar and caudal lymph-node weight on the 18th day of pregnancy were measured. There was no evidence that antigenic differences between mother and fetus at these loci affected any of these measurements. It was apparent, however, that there were significant differences between matings in decidual, placental and fetal weight, but not in lymph-node weight. Except in matings between highly inbred strains of animals, the mammalian conceptus differs antigenically from its mother. A number of studies have been undertaken to determine whether the course of pregnancy is affected by the extent of these antigenic differences. In the mouse, decidual weight (Hetherington, 1971) and placental weight (Billington, 1964) have been reported to be affected by the degree of antigenic dissimilarity between mother and conceptus while in the rat, maternal lymph- node weight is affected (Beer & Billingham, 1971). Up to the present time, however, such studies have involved inbred strains of animals which not only differ at histocompatibility loci but also possess markedly different genetic backgrounds. It has been necessary, therefore, to estimate the significance of each of these two components in reaching a decision concerning the effect of antigenic difference on pregnancy. This has resulted in some differences of opinion about the significance of maternal/fetal incompatibility with respect to placental weight (see Clarke & Hetherington, 1972). If lymph-node weight, decidual weight and placental weight are affected by antigenic differences, these differences could be of considerable importance to the survival of the fetus. An understanding of the mechanisms involved might help to explain the success of the conceptus as a homograft. In the present work, congenie resistant strains of mice were used, and a study was made of the effect of the H-2 and the H-3 histocompatibility loci. The H-2 locus is the major histocompatibility locus of the mouse. The H-3 antigen is stated to be expressed on the unimplanted blastocyst (Palm, Heyner & Brinster,

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