{"title":"Natural lymphocyte activation in postnatal development of germ-free and conventional mice","authors":"L. Forni , C. Heusser , A. Coutinho","doi":"10.1016/0769-2625(88)90138-9","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The degree of activation of B and T cells in the developing spleen during postnatal life was studied in germ-free (GF) and specific-pathogen-free (SPF) BALB/c mice of the same breeding stock. We found that the progeny of GF mothers up to 3 weeks of age contain higher numbers of activated splenic cells than baby SPF mice, thus suggesting qualitative differences in maternally-derived antibodies. This «advantageå of GF mice is also indicated by anticipated maturation of the splenic lymphoid compartment and is reflected in higher frequencies of B and T lymphocytes in adult life.</p><p>In both kinds of mice, the frequency of activated cells is very high at birth and then declines, reaching minimal valyes by 4 weeks of age. Later, activated B cells increase sharply in SPF mice, suggesting polyclonal activation mediated by bacterial products. Results are discussed on the basis of the mutual influences between B and T cells in the establishment of a functional network.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":77665,"journal":{"name":"Annales de l'Institut Pasteur. Immunology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"1988-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1016/0769-2625(88)90138-9","citationCount":"18","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Annales de l'Institut Pasteur. Immunology","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0769262588901389","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 18
Abstract
The degree of activation of B and T cells in the developing spleen during postnatal life was studied in germ-free (GF) and specific-pathogen-free (SPF) BALB/c mice of the same breeding stock. We found that the progeny of GF mothers up to 3 weeks of age contain higher numbers of activated splenic cells than baby SPF mice, thus suggesting qualitative differences in maternally-derived antibodies. This «advantageå of GF mice is also indicated by anticipated maturation of the splenic lymphoid compartment and is reflected in higher frequencies of B and T lymphocytes in adult life.
In both kinds of mice, the frequency of activated cells is very high at birth and then declines, reaching minimal valyes by 4 weeks of age. Later, activated B cells increase sharply in SPF mice, suggesting polyclonal activation mediated by bacterial products. Results are discussed on the basis of the mutual influences between B and T cells in the establishment of a functional network.