Abstract
THE reactivity of thymus-derived (T) lymphocytes when stimulated with the phytomitogens phytohaemagglutinin (PHA), concanavalin A (con A) and pokeweed mitogen (PWM), correlates well with immunological reactivity. Consequently, the mitogens have been useful in studies of the functional maturity of thymocytes in foetal and neonatal mice. Reactivity to con A and PWM increases greatly during the perinatal period, but PHA responsiveness reaches a peak shortly before birth and then declines3. This decline could be due to either (1) reversible suppression of PHA-responsive thymocytes by PHA-unresponsive cells; or (2) the emigration or death of PHA-reactive cells or the immigration or expansion of a population of PHA-unresponsive cells. If PHA-responsive thymocytes in the newborn mouse are all steroid resistant, as seems to be the case in the adult4,6, then steroid treatment of newborns might aid the choice between possibilities (1) and (2). If (1) is correct, steroid treatment should cause a greater increment in thymocyte PHA responsiveness than could be explained by the increased relative number of highly reactive steroid-resistant cells. If (2) is correct, steroid treatment should increase PHA-responsiveness in proportion to the increase in relative number of PHA-responsive cells. If, however, all PHA-responsive cells are eliminated, steroid treatment should not increase PHA responsiveness. This possibility is given some support by a report5 involving techniques different from ours. We have therefore attempted to characterise the fraction of thymocytes surviving steroid treatment in the newborn mouse with regard to mitogen reactivity, reactivity in the mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR), and surface representation of the θ alloantigen. We found that steroid treatment increased the PHA responsiveness of newborn thymocytes, supporting explanation (2).
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COHEN, P., MOSIER, D. Reactivity of steroid-resistant neonatal thymocytes. Nature 251, 233–234 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1038/251233a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/251233a0
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