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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1973 Mar;70(3):834–838. doi: 10.1073/pnas.70.3.834

Immunoglobulin Synthesis and Secretion by Cells in the Mouse Thymus That Do Not Bear θ Antigen

Ellen S Vitetta 1,2,3,4, Jonathan W Uhr 1,2,3,4, Edward A Boyse 1,2,3,4
PMCID: PMC433370  PMID: 4514995

Abstract

The mouse thymus contains cells that synthesize and secrete minute amounts of immunoglobulin (Ig). These cells were studied by a combination of cytotoxic tests (with alloantisera prepared in congenic strains of mice) followed by pulse labeling of the surviving cell population with [3H]tyrosine. The immunoglobulin-synthesizing cells constitute less than 2% of the total cell population and are θ-, TL-, Ly-B-, Ig+, H-2+, and PC+. Since this phenotype is not characteristic of cells of the thymocyte lineage, the Ig+ cells are probably plasma cells and/or bone marrow-derived (B) lymphocytes.

Similar studies of spleen cells indicate that immunoglobulin-synthesizing and secreting cells are θ-.

Keywords: T and B cells, cytotoxic tests

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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