Morphology of antibody production by different cell systems in diffusion chambers

Abstract

Suspensions of spleen cells, lymph nodes and lymph from normal, non-immunized rabbits, cultivated in diffusion chambers in the peritoneal cavity of young rabbits, formed antibodies against bacterial antigen added to the suspesion in the chamber. No antibody formation by thymus cells was demonstrated and bone marrow cells produced antibodies in isolated cases only. During the antibody response, the cells of all organs differentiated into cells of the plasmacytic series and lymphocytes with dilated pyroninophil cytoplasm, while histiocytes, fibroblasts and giant cells developed chiefly through the non-specific reaction of the lymphoid cells, including lymphocytes, to the culture conditions. Reticulum cells, haemocytoblasts and large lymphocytes probably participated in the inductive phase of antibody synthesis. Typical plasma cells probably developed from these initial types by differentiation via immature lymphocytes, while the immediate precursors of less typical plasmacytoid cells were small lymphocytes and lymphocytes with dilated cytoplasm formed from immature cells during culture.