Duration of the inductive effect of sheep erythrocytes on the recruitment of lymphocytes in the rat.

  • 1 October 1968
    • journal article
    • Vol. 15  (4) , 609-17
Abstract
The serum haemolysin response was studied in rats which had been subjected to a suppressive whole-body dose of γ-irradiation followed after 24 hours by an intravenous injection of sheep erythrocytes. A standard restorative dose of syngeneic thoracic duct lymphocytes was given immediately after the antigen or after a variable delay. Delays of 12, 24, 48 and 72 hours were followed by progressively smaller haemolysin responses. These observations suggested that the recruitment of lymphocytes begins very soon after the injection of sheep erythrocytes and that the inductive influence of the antigen wanes steadily so that the effective period of recruitment probably lasts for 1–2 days.