title: Thymic hormone-induced accelerated development of antibody responsiveness to sheep red blood cells in the newborn mouse.
abstract: 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.
mesh_terms: 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*
chemical_list: D013951:Thymus Hormones