Response of the popliteal lymph node to reinfection of the hind foot pad of the mouse with Mycobacterium marinum.
In C57BL mice inoculated with Mycobacterium marinum in the right hind foot pad 2 weeks earlier ("previously infected mice"), inoculation of M. marinum into the left hind foot pad was followed by accelerated enlargement of the left popliteal node. Popliteal-node lymphocytes harvested from previously infected donors, labeled with 3H-uridine in vitro, and infused intravenously into previously infected recipients at the time of reinfection in the left hind foot pad homed on the left popliteal node. Similarly, there was an accelerated increase of the number of labeled lymphocytes in the left popliteal node of previously infected mice infused intravenously with 3H-thymidine 24 or 48 hr after reinfection in the left hind foot pad. Accelerated enlargement of the lymph node and the early accumulation of labeled lymphocytes in the popliteal lymph node draining the foot pad reinfected with M. marinum appeared more likely to have resulted from influx and accumulation of lymphocytes than from local proliferation, especially as the lesion of the left hind foot pad is a very modest one, and the quantity of antigen in the left hind foot pad and draining node is very small. The accumulation of lymphocytes, which is the cause of the accelerated node enlargement, appears to require the presence of both antigen and antigen-reactive lymphocytes.
D000818:Animals; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D005528:Foot; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000276:immunology*; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009161:Mycobacterium / Q000276:immunology; D009164:Mycobacterium Infections / Q000276:immunology*; D013997:Time Factors
D000942:Antigens, Bacterial