The objectives of this study were to: 1) develop a technique to analyze the in vitro
cytotoxic activity of lymphocytes from adult horses against equine herpes virus-1 (EHV-1)
infected allogenic equine dermal fibroblasts (EDF); 2) evaluate the ability of a 72 hour in
vitro incubation with interleukin-2 (I L-2) to enhance the lymphocytic cytolytic activity
against EHV-1 infected EDF; 3) compare the cytotoxic activity among lymphocytes
isolated from pregnant mares and non-pregnant mares against EHV-1 infected EDF; 4)
ascertain if any correlations existed between the percent cytotoxicity and percentage of
lymphocytes phenotypically identified by five different mouse-anti-equine monoclonal
antibodies; and 5) determine if any correlation existed between virus-neutralizing antibody
titers and the percent cytotoxicity.
Results of the study indicate that in vitro cytotoxic activity of equine lymphocytes against EHV-1 infected allogenic fibroblasts can be measured with a standard 4 hour 51Cr
release assay. This activity was enhanced by an in vitro incubation with IL-2. The cytolytic
activity of freshly isolated lymphocytes was greater for non-pregnant than pregnant
mares. However, after IL-2 stimulation the cytolytic activity was greater for lymphocytes
from pregnant mares. A positive correlation was not detected between the percentage
of phenotypically identified cells and the percent cytoxicity, although several negative
correlations were present. This suggests that the cytotoxic activity was either not
mediated by any of the phenotypically identified cell populations or that the activity was
mediated by several different cell populations. No correlation was detected between virus neutralizing
antibody titers and the percent cytotoxicity.
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