The immune response to sheep erythrocytes in the mouse

Abstract

The cytological events of the primary and secondary immune response in the popliteal lymph node of Swiss White mice were studied following administration of sheep erythrocytes into the hind footpad. Four morphological features of cellular activity of immunologically competent cells—basophilia, synthesis of RNA, mitotic activity and distinctive cellular morphology—were analysed, and correlated with previous studies of 19S and 7S antibody forming cellular activity employing plaque assays performed on the residual lymphoid tissue remaining after production of node imprints.

The findings support the view that 19S and 7S antibody forming cells in the primary immune response are derived from two populations of cellular precursors. It is suggested that the lymphoid cell producing 19S immunoglobulin arises by transformation from the reticular cell following activation by antigen, while the 7S antibody forming cell arises from the small lymphocyte following some degree of initial transformation and subsequent cellular proliferation. The possibility that the 7S antibody forming cells had passed through a transient period of biosynthesis of 19S antibody was suggested in the present studies. Finally, evidence was provided for the presence of two morphological types of plasma cells, which, by virtue of their appearance at different stages of the primary immune response, could represent cells producing different immunoglobulins at varying rates of protein biosynthesis.

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