Abstract
Summary
Normal and antigenically stimulated germfree BALB/c young adult mice were used as a test system for studying the role of the nonthymus-dependent and thymus-dependent lymphoid tissue in Rauscher leukemia virus infection. It was considered that the splenomegaly of Rauscher disease within a germfree population would be enhanced by the establishment of active germinal centers in the nonthymus-dependent region of the lymphatic nodules of mice previously immunized with sterile sheep erythrocytes (SRBC). Similar comparisons were made in conventional BALB/c mice in which SRBC and lactic dehydrogenase virus were used as the test antigens. Results of these studies demonstrate the necessary, if not essential, role of the antigen-retaining reticular cells and immunoblasts of lymphatic tissue germinal centers in the early lymphoblastosis and subsequent splenomegaly of Rauscher disease. In addition, morphologic results strongly suggest the differential effect of the Rauscher preparation on the thymus- and nonthymus-dependent regions of the lymphatic tissue.
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