Abstract
Summary
Spleen cell cultures from congenitally thymusless (nude) mice were found to be unresponsive to SE in vitro. The addition of 5.0 × 107 thymus cells from Balb/c or littermate animals to “nude” spleen cell cultures enabled these cultures to respond to SE. An in vitro response to SE could also be obtained by addition of normal spleen cells from Balb/c mice. As few as 2.4 × 105 Balb/c spleen cells established an immune response in nude spleen cell cultures. The reconstitution of nude spleen cell cultures with thymus cells indicates that while a deficiency of thymus-derived cells exists in nude mice, they have functional bone marrow-derived cells.
We thank R. W. Dutton for instructing one of us (D.P.A.) in the use of the Mishell-Dutton Procedure, and R. C. Roberts and D. S. Falconer for providing the breeding nucleus of mice carrying nude.
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