THYMUS DEPENDENCE OF ADOPTIVE IMMUNITY IN IRRADIATED MICE

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Abstract
Thymus dependence of adoptive immunity by transplanted bone marrow or spleen cells was quantitatively assessed by measuring their agglutinin response in thymectomized and nonthymectomized irradiated mice. Under all experimental conditions, spleen cells were remarkably less sensitive to thymectomy than bone marrow cells. The degree of thymus dependence of spleen cells varied with the donor age. The data suggest the existence of 2 pools of potentially competent cells: PCq (thymus-dependent) and PCj (thymus-independent) cells, the former being relatively more frequent in the marrow than in the spleen. Variation of thymus dependence with age is attributed to changes of the relative pool size of PC0 and PC1 cells.