Serologic Studies of Embryonic and Trophoblastic Tissues of the Mouse

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Abstract
Summary: The isoantigenicity of mouse embryonic and trophoblastic tissues was studied by quantitative absorptions of isohemagglutinins. Isoantigenic activity was found in the earliest C3H embryos studied (10½ days old). The antigenicity of the liver increased rapidly between days 13½ and 15½, whereafter it remained constant. In preterm embryos the thymus was the most antigenic organ, having an antigenicity similar to that of the adult thymus. The placenta showed a relatively high antigenicity which remained unchanged throughout pregnancy. The livers of (129 × C3H) F1 hybrids contained both paternal and maternal isoantigenic activity. The two antigens attained, at each developmental stage, about half the concentration found in homozygous embryos. Both the paternal and the maternal antigens were demonstrable in hybrid placentas. No isoantigenic activity could be found in the trophoblastic growths resulting from grafts of 2½- to 3½-day-old fertilized C3H eggs into cryptorchid C57BL or 129 testes. It is concluded that the lack of H-2 isoantigenicity of the trophoblastic cells enables them to function as a barrier between the fetus and the mother.

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