Abstract
THE observation that neonatal thymectomy is associated with immunological defects1–4 has stimulated new interest in the thymus as an organ important in the production of immunity. Antibody response and reaction to homologous skin grafts are the usual criteria of the immune capacity of the animal. Whether or not any particular, completely thymectomized animal shows immunological defects depends on the species and strain of the animal and the age of the animal when thymectomized. More recently5–7 thymectomized animals of the same strain have been shown to have decreased responsiveness to some antigens and not to others. In all these investigations, one or two time-intervals between injection of antigen and sampling for antibody activity were chosen. This communication deals with the haemolysin response to sheep red blood cells at various times after immunization. A delay in antibody formation in the thymectomized mice is demonstrated, and the danger inherent in the use of a single time interval between injection and serum collection is pointed out.
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SINCLAIR, N. Time-course Studies on Antibody Response in Thymectomized and Sham-thymectomized Mice. Nature 208, 1104–1105 (1965). https://doi.org/10.1038/2081104a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/2081104a0
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