Organ and age distribution of natural anti-chondrocyte cytotoxicity in the mouse.

: Natural cell-mediated cytotoxic activity of mouse lymphoid cells against isolated epiphyseal chondrocytes was tested in 18 h chromium-release assay. The highest anti-chondrocyte cytotoxicity was demonstrated with spleen- and peritoneum-derived leukocytes. Bone marrow cells and lymph node cells exerted weak activity while thymocytes and Peyer's patch-derived cells exerted no cytotoxic activity. Slight, but significant, activity appeared in spleen of 1-week-old mice. It increased with age reaching the maximum in about the 8th week which was followed by subsequent decrease. The ability to lyse isolated chondrocytes by peritoneal cells appeared in 3-6th week of life. It reached the maximum on about the 8th week and disappeared completely in about the 12th week. On the contrary, there were no changes in anti-chondrocyte activity of bone marrow cells.