Abstract
Summary
Ontogeny of thymus cell function in humoral antibody response was studied in vitro using cells from different embryonic stages and neonates of BDF1 mice. As early as the sixteenth day of embryonic development, the thymus contained cells that were readily activated in vitro by con A to function as helper cells in an antibody response against sheep erythrocytes. The helper function of embryonic thymocytes increased rapidly, reaching adult levels before birth. It has also been shown that con A-treated thymus cells are less susceptible to anti-Ø serum and correspondingly more susceptible to anti-H-2 serum; the implication of this finding in thymus cell maturation has been discussed.
The author is grateful to Professor Robert Auerbach for his encouragement and criticisms during the course of this work. This study was supported in part by Research Grant CA 13548 from the National Institute of Health.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.