A morphological and histochemical study of the primary and secondary immune responses in the rat spleen

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Abstract
Macrophages and cells of the plasmocyte series were studied in the rat's spleen during the primary and secondary immune responses to particulate antigen. Evidence is presented to suggest that the plasma cell precursors are located in the marginal zones surrounding the lymphoid nodules and that less than one day following injection of antigen, these cells migrate into the nodules, where mitosis and subsequent differentiation into hemocytoblasts occurs in the presence of nodular macrophages. The hemocytoblasts then migrate across the marginal zone into the red pulp where differentiation into mature plasma cells occurs in the presence of red pulp macrophages. It is suggested that the initiation of the antibody‐forming process occurs in the lymphoid nodules where marginal zone cells come into close contact with the marginal metalophils or with germinal center macrophages. The process initiating the migration of cells from the marginal zone to the nodules is unknown.