Macrophage-induced thymic lymphocyte maturation.

Guinea-pig peritoneal macrophages were found to influence the functional maturation of thymic lymphocytes. Autologous thymic lymphocytes obtained from macrophage co-cultures responded to three different mitogens and were reduced in their ability to reassociate spontaneously with macrophages. Neither of these properties were found in thymic lymphocytes that had not been cultured with macrophages. These functional changes appeared to be specific for macrophages since thymic lymphocytes incubated with skin fibroblasts failed to respond to the test mitogens. Furthermore, they were not the result of either the inactivation, by macrophages, of a putative suppressor thymocyte or a soluble macrophage product. In addition to influencing the functional maturation of thymic lymphocytes, macrophages also appeared to play a direct role in inducing the mitogen response of functionally mature cells.