Cohen J J, Claman H N
J Exp Med. 1971 May 1;133(5):1026-34. doi: 10.1084/jem.133.5.1026.
Corticosteroids suppress the humoral antibody response of mice to sheep erythrocytes. This response depends on interactions between thymus-derived helper cells and bone marrow-derived antibody-forming cell precursors (AFC precursors). Previous experiments had shown that spleen cells (a mixture of thymus-derived and marrow-derived cells) were sensitive to corticosteroids while AFC precursors in the bone marrow were resistant. The present experiments showed that the thymus of a mouse given 2.5 mg of hydrocortisone acetate, although containing only about 5% of the number of cells of a normal thymus, was as effective as a normal thymus in cooperating with bone marrow when transferred to irradiated syngeneic mice and stimulated with SRBC. The proliferative response of thymus helper cells to SRBC was also resistant to hydrocortisone. In this context, the majority of thymic cells are in the cortex, are rapidly dividing, are sensitive to corticosteroids and are not iminunocompetent. A small number of thymic cells, probably located in the medulla, are resistant to corticosteroids, but are immunocompetent since they can serve as helper cells. The hydrocortisone-sensitive phase of the splenic response to SRBC was found to be the bone marrow-derived AFC precursor since spleens from hydrocortisone-treated donors had immunocompetence restored by normal bone marrow but not by normal thymus cells.
皮质类固醇可抑制小鼠对绵羊红细胞的体液抗体反应。这种反应依赖于胸腺来源的辅助细胞与骨髓来源的抗体形成细胞前体（AFC前体）之间的相互作用。先前的实验表明，脾细胞（胸腺来源和骨髓来源细胞的混合物）对皮质类固醇敏感，而骨髓中的AFC前体则具有抗性。目前的实验表明，给予2.5毫克醋酸氢化可的松的小鼠的胸腺，尽管其细胞数量仅约为正常胸腺的5%，但当转移到经照射的同基因小鼠并以SRBC刺激时，其与骨髓协同作用的效果与正常胸腺相同。胸腺辅助细胞对SRBC的增殖反应也对氢化可的松具有抗性。在这种情况下，大多数胸腺细胞位于皮质，快速分裂，对皮质类固醇敏感且无免疫活性。少数胸腺细胞，可能位于髓质，对皮质类固醇具有抗性，但具有免疫活性，因为它们可以作为辅助细胞。对SRBC的脾反应中氢化可的松敏感阶段被发现是骨髓来源的AFC前体，因为来自氢化可的松处理供体的脾脏通过正常骨髓而非正常胸腺细胞恢复了免疫活性。
