[Immunocompetent system of rabbits in experimental atherosclerosis].

Morphological studies of rabbit immunocompetent system combined with the examination of the atherosclerosis progression in the arteries allowed to establish the source of immunological responses developing in the process of experimental atherosclerosis: mesenteric and para-aortal lymph nodes and the spleen. The immunological response was of the B-type. The possiblity of the existence of a new type of immunological response early in the disease which may be realized not due to the proliferation but by cell differentiation was demonstrated. The experimental results are of theoretical importance for the understanding of the mechanisms of the patho- and morphogenesis of atherosclerosis and for the anslysis of different variants of changes occurring in the immune system of the host in autoimmune diseases.