LYMPHOCYTE MIGRATION TO THE MIDDLE-EAR MUCOSA

We investigated the migration of antigen-specific IgA-forming cells to the middle ear mucosa. Antigen-specific lymphocytes of IgA and IgG cl asses were induced in guinea pigs according to an immunization strateg y previously described. From those animals, chromium 51-labeled lympho cytes of Peyer's patches and spleen were transferred to radiated chime ra recipients. The radioactivity levels of the middle ears with antige nic and nonantigenic stimuli were significantly higher than those of t he control ears (p <. 05). Those levels of radioactivity were influenc ed neither by origins and subsets of transferred cells nor by antigeni c stimuli to the mucosa (p >. 05). Many labeled cells were observed in the middle ear effusion, while few were found in the inflamed mucosa. These findings suggest that in the early stage of inflammation, lymph ocytes, including antigen-specific T and B cells, may be recruited fro m the blood circulation to the inflamed middle ear mucosa by nonspecif ic inflammatory processes that may mask antigen-specific factors in ly mphocyte migration.