title: Induction of T- and B-lymphocyte responses in antigenically stimulated athymic mice.
abstract: Antigenic stimulation of athymic mice on the BALB/c background by infection with the pinworms Aspiculuris tetraptera and Syphacia obvelata or by xenografts of human tumors induced a proliferation of T- and B-lymphocytes in spleen and lymph nodes and occasional germinal center formation. The proliferating T-lymphocytes showed greater fluorescence per cell than the Thy 1-positive cells from unstimulated athymic mice when examined by cytofluorography using anti-Thy 1 antiserum. The proliferating T-lymphocytes were shown to be functional by their ability to help mount an in vivo antibody response to sheep erythrocytes and other thymus-dependent antigens. Spleen cells cultures taken from mice at early stages of antigenic stimulation responded in vitro to the thymus-dependent mitogens concanavalin A and phytohemagglutinin. However, spleen cell cultures taken from mice chronically stimulated by foreign antigens were apparently already maximally stimulated and showed no further stimulation when incubated with concanavalin A or phytohemagglutinin in vitro.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D006373:Helminthiasis / Q000276:immunology; D006376:Helminths / Q000276:immunology; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000648:ultrastructure; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008819:Mice, Nude / Q000276:immunology*; D008934:Mitogens / Q000494:pharmacology; D009368:Neoplasm Transplantation; D009374:Neoplasms, Experimental / Q000276:immunology; D013154:Spleen / Q000648:ultrastructure; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D014183:Transplantation, Heterologous
chemical_list: D008934:Mitogens