Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), a serious complication of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT), can be prevented by in vitro depletion of T cells from the bone marrow (BM) prior to transplantation. The purpose of this study was to assess the role of BMT cells in the reconstitution of various immune functions following BMT across minor histocompatibility barriers. Lethally irradiated CBA/J (H-2k) mice were grafted with either 10(7) unseparated or T-cell-depleted BM cells from B10.BR (H-2k, minor-histoincompatible) mice. Blood counts, BM colonies in agar, and various immune functions of spleen cells from the recipient mice were tested 2-12 weeks post-BMT and compared with those of normal donors. The following observations were made: (A) Peripheral blood lymphocyte counts decreased to 30% of normal 2 weeks post-BMT with almost normal recovery at 8 weeks. (B) The percentage of Thy1.2+ splenocytes reached normal levels at 8 weeks post-BMT. (C) The number of BM colonies (GM-CFU) was reduced to 10% at 2 weeks and fully recovered at 12 weeks. (D) Proliferative response to the B-cell mitogen LPS was fully reconstituted after 4 weeks; however, anti-SRBC PFC (following Mishell-Dutton cultures) was restored 50% at 8-12 weeks. (E) Reconstitution of T cell functions including proliferative responses to concanavalin A, phytohemagglutinin, and allogeneic leukocytes, and allocytotoxicity, did not exceed 50% even 12 weeks post-BMT. Overall, depletion of T cells from donor BM allografts incompatible at minor histocompatibility loci, did not seem to significantly alter the rate of immunohematopoietic reconstitution in the lethally irradiated BM recipients.