The Antibody Response of Rats Depleted of Lymphocytes by Chronic Drainage from the Thoracic Duct

The chronic drainage of lymph and cells from a thoracic duct fistula in rats results in a reduction in the weight of all the lymph nodes and of their content of small lymphocytes. The primary immune response to tetanus toxoid or sheep erythrocytes is severely depressed or abolished in such animals. This unresponsive state is related to the loss of lymphocytes from the thoracic duct fistula and, not to stress factors ensuing from the trauma of operation and restraint; it can be reversed by injecting inocula which contain almost exclusively small lymphocytes. In contrast to the severe impairment of the primary immune response in lymphocyte-depleted rats, such animals show a normal response to a second injection of tetanus toxoid. The mechanism by which small lymphocytes mediate the primary immune response is discussed.