NATURAL CYTO-TOXICITY IN THE GUINEA-PIG - THE NATURAL-KILLER (NK) CELL-ACTIVITY OF THE KURLOFF CELL

  • 1 January 1980
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 41  (2) , 367-378
Abstract
Natural killer (NK) cell activity was found in the various lymphoid compartments of the normal guinea pig, prominent in the spleen and absent in the thymus. Estrogen treatment, which increased the Kurloff cell population in blood, spleen and thymus, did not alter NK cell activity in blood and spleen but markedly augmented the lytic capacity of the thymus. Rosetting reactions and selective depletion studies in normal and estrogen-treated animals revealed the NK cells to belong to a small population of E+ [erythrocyte rosetting] Kurloff cells, some of which were Fc+ receptor and others apparently Fc-. Some of these natural killer cells in the spleen also had receptors for C3 [complement component 3] and carried Ig (probably cytophilic). In the lymph nodes the NK cells were E+ lymphocytes, some of which were Fc+ and others, Fc-.