Abstract
A focal cryo-injury to the testis, in normal rabbits, gives rise to a moderately severe inflammatory reaction, with histio-lymphocytic and eosinophilic infiltration in the target organ, which ends, within a month of inflicting the injury, with fibrous replacement of the necrotic tissue and functional restitution of the gonad. The same cryo-injury, in rabbits primed by the progressive destruction of the contralateral gonad, produces, as reported here, an intense reaction in the target gland, characterized by the early presence of lymphocytic perivascular cuffs and histiocytes, and, later on, by the development of giant cells, epithelioid tubercles and plasmacytic infiltrates. Within a month of inflicting the injury, a caseous necrosis spreads out from the core of the lesion to the whole gland, leading to its irreversible destruction. No circulating antibodies are detected in either of the two cases.These two strikingly different reactions to the same stimulus may be interpreted as being a primary and a secondary immune response, the latter given by animals whose immunological status has been altered by a sensitizing treatment. This result indicates the immunological basis of the reaction elicited by the physical destruction of the male rabbit gonad and gives additional proof of the autoantigenic properties of this organ. The apparent lack of circulating antibodies from the response is consistent with reports of other experimental autoallergic conditions in the testis elicited without the use of adjuvants.
