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The Localization of Antigen in Lymph Node Follicles of Congenitally Athymic Nude Rats
Author(s) -
MJAALAND S.,
FOSSUM S.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.934
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1365-3083
pISSN - 0300-9475
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3083.1987.tb02246.x
Subject(s) - lymph node , nude mouse , antigen , pathology , immunology , medicine , biology , cancer
We have examined the postulated dependence on T cells of follicular retention ot antigen bystudying antigen retention in the draining lymph nodes of congenitally athymic. nude rats afterlocal injections of horseradish peroxidase (HRP). The lymphoid tissues of these rats containedgerminal centres and follicular dendritic cells (FDC) that were ulrastructurally identical tothose seen in euthymic rats and expressed the differention antigen MRCOX2. Nude rat FDCcaptured and retained locally injected antigen on their surfaces. but as with euthymic rats, onlyin the presence of previously injecled anti‐HRP antibody. This demonstrates that the FDCmature both morphologically and functionally in the absence of a thymus or T cells. However, in contrast to euthymic rats, there was no detectable antigen retention in nude rats that hadbeen actively immunized by repeated intraperitoneal injections with HRP for 3 months. Thelower number of germinal centres observed in athymic animals compared with their euthymiclittermales could thus be explained by deficient production of specific antibody of the isotypenecessary for follicular localization of environmental antigens.