Abstract
Summary
The rates of recovery of mouse spleen and marrow cells after sublethal irradiation were studied. Cells from donors given 500 R were transferred to lethally-irradiated recipients at various times after donor irradiation. Donor spleen cells were given with sheep erythrocyte antigen (SRBC), while donor marrow cells were given with normal thymus cells and SRBC. The recovery rates of cellular proliferative ability, hematopoiesis (by 59Fe incorporation) and immunocompetence (by antibody formation to SRBC) were measured. The cellular proliferative ability and hematopoietic recovery were parallel; marrow cells had recovered by day 11 after irradiation (following an “overshoot”) while spleen cells had also recovered by day 11 but without overshoot. The marrow and spleen recovery rates of immunocompetence were markedly different, however. By day 11, marrow immunocompetence had reached normal levels while spleen immunocompetence was only 3.4% of normal.
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