Ramos A, Chacón J, Ferreira A, Hoecker G
Immunology. 1973 Apr;24(4):593-9.
Cortisone suppresses circulating -2 agglutinins when given prior to the injection of soluble cell extracts but not when the same antigens are given as cells. This same difference in antigen handling is observed in adult cortisone-treated thymectomized mice. Thus thymus as such is not involved in these differences in antigen handling. The spleen of adult thymectomized mice is as sensitive to cortisone as that of intact or sham-operated animals: after a strong initial drop in weight, the spleen recovers even during cortisone treatment in both intact and thymectomized mice. When a second cortisone treatment is given, the spleen loses about the same weight fraction as the first time in thymectomized and intact mice. These findings indicate that a fraction of either thymus or marrow-dependent lymphocytes differentiates in the spleen to become cortisone-sensitive. All these facts taken together show that antigen size is the main determining factor in antigen processing, i.e. the cellular path involved in antibody production.
在注射可溶性细胞提取物之前给予可的松会抑制循环中的 -2 凝集素，但当相同抗原以细胞形式给予时则不会。在成年经可的松处理的胸腺切除小鼠中也观察到了这种抗原处理方式的相同差异。因此，胸腺本身并不参与这些抗原处理差异。成年胸腺切除小鼠的脾脏对可的松的敏感性与完整或假手术动物的脾脏相同：在体重最初大幅下降后，完整和胸腺切除小鼠的脾脏在可的松治疗期间都会恢复。当再次给予可的松治疗时，胸腺切除和完整小鼠的脾脏失去的重量比例与第一次大致相同。这些发现表明，胸腺或骨髓依赖性淋巴细胞的一部分在脾脏中分化，变得对可的松敏感。综合所有这些事实表明，抗原大小是抗原加工的主要决定因素，即参与抗体产生的细胞途径。
