Thymic hormone-induced accelerated development of antibody responsiveness to sheep red blood cells in the newborn mouse.
The influence of thymic preparations on the kinetics of the development of PFC response to sheep erythrocytes was tested in mice 0 to 4 weeks old. Soluble thymic factor (STF) or thymic epithelial culture supernatant (TES) was prepared from the thymuses of C57B1/6 mice. STF was injected to gravid mice on day 13 or on day 18 of gestation. A marked acceleration in the appearance of PFC to SRBC was noted only in the offspring from those mothers having received STF on day 18. The ability to generate anti-SRBC response in vitro by splenocytes from 1- to 4-week-old mice was significantly improved in the presence of TES. The accelerated appearance of the response to a T-dependent antigen is attributed to increase in the ratio of T helper/T suppressor cells resulting from differentiation and/or clonal expansion under the influence of STF crossing of the placental barrier in the materno-fetal direction.
D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D000917:Antibody Formation / Q000187:drug effects*; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D005865:Gestational Age; D006462:Hemolytic Plaque Technique; D008297:Male; D008431:Maternal-Fetal Exchange; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D011247:Pregnancy; D013154:Spleen / Q000276:immunology; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D050378:T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory / Q000276:immunology; D013951:Thymus Hormones / Q000494:pharmacology*
D013951:Thymus Hormones