Abstract
The populations of T- and B-lymphocytes in the spleen were examined in mice of the AKR strain by the cytotoxicity test with rabbit anti-mouse-specific bone marrow-derived lymphocyte antigen serum or rabbit anti-mouse thymocyte serum plus complement. Some of these mice had been injected intravenously with live organisms of BCG, Salmonella ty-phimurium TV148, or Staphylococcus aureus 209 P, and others with heat-killed organisms of BCG or TV148. Those two prepared antisera had been confirmed in several ways to have specific cytotoxicity against T- and B-lymphocytes, respectively, in the presence of complement.
The T cell population in the spleen showed a slight decrease in mice in the early stage of infection with 1× 107 organisms of BCG, but a slight increase in the same mice 3 to 5 weeks later. During the experimental period of infection with BCG no obvious change could be found in the B cell population in the spleen in these mice. A significant increase of the T cell population in the spleen was also observed in mice which were infected with 1× 103 to 1× 107 organisms of TV 148 3 weeks before. The B cell population in the spleen, however, decreased gradually in these mice after infection. Mice injected with heat-killed organisms of BCG or TV148, instead of live organisms, showed no increase of the T cell population in the spleen. In mice infected with 2× 108 organisms of 209P, there was a slight decrease of both T- and B-lymphocyte populations in the spleen. This result suggested an expansion of the population of some other cells in the spleen.
