Summary This study seeks to establish whether patterns of antigen trapping in lymphoid tissues, and consequent cellular proliferative changes, differ in congenitally athymic “nude” (nu/nu) mice and in their phenotypically normal (nu/ + or +/+) litter‐mate controls. Mice were injected in foot pack with the 125I‐labelled antigens polymerized flagellin from Salmonella adelaide or bovine serum albumin; in some eases passive antibody had been given 4 hours before labelled antigen. Mice were killed at intervals of 1 hour to 10 days after antigen. Radioautographs of sections of spleen and of lymph nodes close to and remote from injection sites were studied. In addition, information relevant to germinal centre formation was obtained from examination of conventional histological sections of nude mice not intentionally immunized, or given a large dose of sheep red blood cells. The key findings of the study were that, though capacity to develop germinal centres in response to antigenic stimulation was grossly deficient in nude mice, follicular localization of antigen in primary lymphoid follicles was qualitatively normal. There was some quantitative reduction in follicular retention of POL. but this did not appear to be sufficient in degree to account for failure of germinal centre development. Total antigen capture in lymphoid tissue and macrophage antigen localization were both normal in nude mice. It was concluded that thymus‐derived cells are required, in addition to a specialized antigen‐trapping mechanism in primary lymphoid follicles, for vigorous germinal centre development.
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Mitchell et al. (1972) studied this question.