title: Role of the thymus in generation of lymphocyte functions. I. Demonstration of lymphocytes reactive to mitogens and allogeneic cells in the embryonic mouse thymus in organ culture.
abstract: The thymuses of 14-day-old CBA mouse embryos cultured for 14 days in organ cultures supplemented with mouse serum contained lymphocytes that were highly reactive to the mitogens concanavalin A (Con A) and leukoagglutinin (LA) and to irradiated allogeneic spleen cells in vitro. In contrast, thymocytes derived from fetal-calf-serum-supplemented organ cultures displayed much weaker responses to the two mitogens and little or no response to the allogeneic spleen cells. Control thymocytes obtained from 1-month-old CBA mice responded well to Con A but not to LA. The responses of these cells to allogeneic spleen cells were delayed compared with the organ-culture-derived cells, which responded promptly, with a maximum already on culture day 2-3. The results demonstrate that the organ culture system provides a convenient model for further study of the generation of immunoreactive cells in the mouse thymus.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003208:Concanavalin A / Q000494:pharmacology; D003470:Culture Media; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D007959:Lymphocyte Culture Test, Mixed; D051379:Mice; D008808:Mice, Inbred CBA; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D008934:Mitogens / Q000494:pharmacology; D009924:Organ Culture Techniques; D013154:Spleen / Q000637:transplantation; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000196:embryology / Q000276:immunology*; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media; D008934:Mitogens; D003208:Concanavalin A