[Adoptive transfer of immunity against Treponema of Fribourg-Blanc (TFB) in the hamster: role of T lymphocytes (author's transl)].

This adoptive transfer was studied in an inbred strain of syrian hamsters. Spleen and lymph node lymphocytes, from TFB-infected hamsters, were injected to isogeneic recipients. Anti-TFB immunity was studied in the recipients either by looking for the apparition of cutaneous lesions after superinfection by TFB, or by counting of Listeria monocytogenes remaining in the liver and in the spleen 48 h after a mixture of TFB and L. monocytogenes had been inoculated. The first method indicated that a complete inhibition of cutaneous lesions was obtained only with hyperimmunized donors. Our results also indicate that anti-TFB immunity was not medicated by B lymphocytes but by sensitized T lymphocytes.