Pre-B cells: bone marrow persistence in anti-mu-suppressed mice, conversion to B lymphocytes, and recovery after destruction by cyclophosphamide.
Chronic treatment of mice from birth with anti-mu antibodies aborts development of B lymphocytes and plasma cells. In these studies we show that bone marrow from anti-mu-treated mice contains a population of cells with cytoplasmic IgM, but which lack detectable cell-surface IgM. These cells are analogous to pre-B cells, defined in ontogenetic studies as the immediate precursors of B lymphocytes. Pre-B cells from bone marrow of anti-mu treated mice retain their functional integrity, as evidenced by their ability to give rise to sIgM+, LPS-responsive lymphocytes in culture. We also show that cyclophosphamide treatment destroys pre-B cells and that recovery of pre-B cells in bone marrow precedes the regeneration of sIgM+ B lymphocytes. Generation of B lymphocytes in adult mice apparently occurs exclusively in the bone marrow because induction of extramedullary hemopoiesis in spleen was not accompanied by the appearance of pre-B cells in that organ.
D000818:Animals; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology*; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D003520:Cyclophosphamide / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D006410:Hematopoiesis; D007106:Immune Sera / Q000494:pharmacology*; D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains; D007148:Immunoglobulin mu-Chains; D007165:Immunosuppression Therapy; D007700:Kinetics; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008808:Mice, Inbred CBA; D011247:Pregnancy; D013997:Time Factors
D007106:Immune Sera; D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains; D007148:Immunoglobulin mu-Chains; D003520:Cyclophosphamide