Immunological activities of rat lymphocytes. I. Mitogenic responses and surface markers of lymphocytes from normal,...

Lymphocytes from the peripheral blood, thoracic duct, spleen and lymph nodes of normal, thymectomized (TX) and thymectomized lethally irradiated marrow reconstituted (TXBM or B rats) Lewis rats were studied for their ability to proliferate in vitro in the presence of Con A or PHA. At the same time the lymphoid tissues of these animals were examined for the presence of B cells or T cells by immunofluorescence staining with antiserums to rat immunoglobulins or rat brain antigens (ARBS), respectively. The specificity of ARBS fort T cells was first established in both cytotoxicity and immunofluoresecnce studies with thymocytes as well as pruified T and B cells. In various lymphoid tissues from TX and B rats, cells carrying brain antigens were found which were unable to respond to Con A and PHA. Thymectomy has a lesser effect on the response to Con A that to PHA; this was particularly true in the thoracic duct where, following thymectomy, lymphocytes continued to respond to Con A but lost their ability to respond to PHA. This suggests that the response to PHA and Con A may belong to different cells' subsets but that the ability to respond to either one of these mitogens may be impaired in cells carrying known T cell markers.