Humoral and cell mediated responses in vitro of spleen cells from mice with thymic aplasia (nude mice).

Abstract

SummaryThe immunological function of lymphocytes derived from the spleen of congenitally athymic (“nude”) mice was investigated in in vitro culture systems. There was a normal antibody response (as compared with appropriate controls) of these cells to dinitrophenylated polymeric flagellin, an antigen which has previously been shown to elicit normal responses in the absence of T lymphocytes. The response to sheep erythrocytes, however, was diminished, but not totally abolished. The response to sheep erythrocytes could be restored by a population of pure T lymphocytes.The cell mediated allograft response of spleen cells from nude mice was also investigated. It was found that spleen cells from nude mice did not yield any cytotoxic response. Since cell‐mediated cytotoxicity has been shown to be a function of T lymphocytes, spleen cells of nude mice are judged by this functional parameter to be devoid of T cells.