The effect of an antigenic stimulation on proliferative response in athymic mice.

The proliferation activity of the main cellular categories of bone marrow after infusion of 3H-thymidine was studied in nu/nu and +/+ 1-month- and 3-month-old BALB/c mice in comparison with lymphoid cells in the spleen and mesenteric lymph nodes. The stem cell defect in nu/nu mouse bone marrow is compensated by an increased proliferation in myeloid series and in agranulocytes. The increase of proliferation activity among lymphoid cells in peripheral lymphoid organs was observed only in the 3-month-old mice with a delay in the nudes.