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Recognition of Heterologous Cells by Macrophages
Author(s) -
Sano Katsuyuki,
Sugimoto Masanobu,
Yasuda Tomoyoshi,
Egashira Yasuyuki,
Yamada Masaatsu
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
microbiology and immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.664
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1348-0421
pISSN - 0385-5600
DOI - 10.1111/j.1348-0421.1980.tb02901.x
Subject(s) - heterologous , phagocytosis , biology , guinea pig , homologous chromosome , macrophage , opsonin , thymocyte , in vitro , microbiology and biotechnology , immunology , immune system , t cell , genetics , gene
The ability of macrophages to recognize homologous and various heterologous cells was studied in mice, rats, and guinea pigs, in terms of the in vitro phagocytosis of non‐opsonized viable thymocytes by macrophages. Mouse, rat, and guinea pig macrophages were found to phagocytize actively thymocytes from certain heterologous animals, including chickens. For instance, mouse macrophages displayed conspicuous phagocytic activities against chicken and duck thymocytes, moderate activities against guinea pig and frog thymocytes and weak activities against rat and mouse thymocytes. On the other hand, guinea pig macrophages revealed a different behaviour: they ingested only chicken thymocytes. These observations strongly suggested that mammalian macrophages possess some ability to discriminate homologous from certain heterologous thymocytes. The results, however, did not necessarily support the idea that the degree of phagocytosis is simply related to the phylogenetic distance between the animal species from which thymocytes and macrophages originated, because of the apparent exception in the mode of phagocytosis by guinea pig macrophages. Evidence demonstrating that antibodies are not involved in this phenomenon will be presented in the accompanying paper.