Studies on CD4+ CD25+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) with transgenic T-cell receptors indicate that Tregs may receive continuous antigen (Ag) stimulation in the periphery. However, the consequence of this Ag encounter and its relevance to physiologic polyclonal Treg function are not established. In autoimmune prostatitis (EAP) of the day-3 thymectomized (d3tx) mice, male Tregs suppressed EAP 3 times better than Tregs from female mice or male mice without prostates. Importantly, the superior EAP-suppressing function was acquired after a 6-day exposure to prostate Ag in the periphery, unaffected by sex hormones. Thus, a brief exposure of physiologic prostate Ag capacitates peripheral polyclonal Tregs to suppress EAP. In striking contrast, autoimmune ovarian disease (AOD) was suppressed equally by male and female Tregs. We now provide evidence that the ovarian Ag develops at birth, 14 days earlier than prostate Ag, and that male Tregs respond to neonatal ovarian Ag in the Treg recipients to gain AOD-suppressing capacity. When d3tx female recipients were deprived of ovarian Ag in the neonatal period, AOD was suppressed by female but not by male Tregs, whereas dacryoadenitis was suppressed by both. We conclude that the physiologic autoAg quickly and continuously enhances disease-specific polyclonal Treg function to maintain self-tolerance.

A prototype visualization management system is described which merges the capabilities of a database management system with any number of existing visualization packages such as AVS or IDL. The prototype uses the Postgres database management system to store and access Earth science data through a simple graphical browser. Data located in the database is visualized by automatically invoking a desired visualization package and downloading an appropriate script or program. The central idea underlying the system is that information on how to visualize a dataset is stored in the database with the dataset itself. As a result, scientists can concentrate more on their science rather than on the process of doing it since visualization programs do not have to be created or searched for each time a dataset is to be viewed.