[Effects of thymectomy on the natural bactericidal power of thymectomized mice]

T and B-dependent systems are correlated between themselves and with the macrophage system in eliciting the immune humoral response. Not all immunogens require T-B interactions to elicit the antibody response: consequently, the problem of the limits of T-dependence, with regard to different immunogen stimulations, remains open. The comparative study of the serum antibody response in mice, thymectomized at birth and in the normal ones, inferred from the values of bactericidal activity (b.a.), detected versus E. coli, S. typhi and S. albus strains did point out evident variation. Thymectomy has impaired b.a. against E. coli; it seems to have no consequence on b.a. against S. typhi; is not possible to the results of our investigation, it seems that the response to the immunogens, responsible for the so-called natural antibodies does require T-B cooperation only for some bacterial species and not for others. A higher bactericidal capacity of normal serum with regard to Gram positive as compared with Gram negative bacteria, is confirmed.