Accelerated cytodifferentiation of antibody-secreting cells in guinea-pig lymph nodes stimulated by sheep erythrocytes and lymphokines.

Lymphokines, produced in response to structurally unrelated antigens, altered the course of a primary anti-sheep erythrocyte plaque-forming cell response within the regional lymph nodes of normal guinea-pigs. Intralymphatic injection of a small dose of lymphokines (0-5-8 mug) 1 day after antigen priming accelerated the rate of indirect plaque-forming cell cytodifferentiation between the 5th and the 9th days of the response. This effect was not related to changes in the level of antigen trapping by lymph node macrophages, but the lymphocyte mitogenic activity may have been important for the response since there was a significant increase in [3H]thymidine incorporation within the lymphokine-treated nodes on the 3rd day following immunization.