Augmentation of cell-mediated cytotoxicity following 50% partial hepatectomy

The cytolytic responses of C3H/HeJ mice after 50% hepatectomy (PH) were assessed in a 4-hr 51Cr-release assay. Spleen cells (SC) (50 x 10(6] from normal or PH C3H/HeJ (H-2k) mice were sensitized with equal numbers of irradiated allogeneic DBA/2 (H-2d) spleen cells in a five-day mixed lymphocyte culture. Generated cytolytic activity was measured against 51Cr-labeled P815 mastocytoma (H-2d) and EL4 lymphoma (H-2b) target cells. The wet weight and cell numbers per spleen following 50% partial hepatectomy were 70% and 75% higher than the control values for the first 20 days, and then returned to normal levels by 21 days. The cytolysis by spleen cells from 2-, 14-, and 31-day PH mice were 89.3 +/- 0.7, 86.9 +/- 5.3, and 90.1 +/- 1.3%, respectively, compared with control (sham-operated) values of 56.0 +/- 1.0, 57.0 +/- 2.0, and 49.9 +/- 7.0% (P less than 0.03 at E/T 100:1). This enhanced cytolysis by PH spleen cells remained high for at least 118 days after the liver resection before returning to control levels by 268 days. Cytolytic effector cells in PH SC were generated at least 24 hr earlier than in control SC. When normal and PH cytolysis were compared following primary and secondary in vitro sensitization, the cytolytic levels of primarily-sensitized PH spleen cells were comparable to secondarily sensitized normal spleen cells. Furthermore, the primarily sensitized normal spleen cells did not show crossreactive cytolysis with EL4 target cells (H-2b), while both the primarily sensitized PH spleen cells and the secondarily sensitized normal spleen cells were significantly cross-reactive against the third party EL4 target cells. Adherent PH spleen cells appear to be responsible for this augmented cytolytic capacity since their coculture with normal nonadherent responder spleen cells increased control cytolysis by approximately 30%. These studied demonstrate that, following 50% partial hepatectomy, there is an immediate and sustained increase in the allospecific cytolytic response.