Recovery of immunological responsiveness in thymectomized mice.

After a limited period of immunological unresponsiveness, neonatally thymectomized colony-bred Swiss mice were found to recover their ability to form haemagglutinins and haemolysins as well as their antibody-plaque-forming capacity following injection of sheep erythrocytes. No such spontaneous reconstitution was observed in F-hybrids of highly inbred CBA and CBA-T6T6 mice. Adult thymectomized and irradiated Swiss mice similarly regained their ability to form haemolysins and haemagglutinins, but no regeneration of antibody-plaque production occurred in these mice during the period of observation. No regular correlation was found between the degree of immunological deficiency on the one hand and the level of circulating lymphocytes or the histological appearance of the spleens on the other, following neonatal thymectomy or adult thymectomy and irradiation. The possible mechanism of recovery from immunological impairment after thymectomy and the apparent discrepancies between overall haemolysin production and haemolytic plaque production in the spleen are discussed.