Recovery of the Antigen Retention Mechanism after Sublethal X-Irradiation in Mice Receiving Cells from Various Sources

The intravenous injection of spleen or peritoneal exudate cells into mice x-irradiated with 600 R leads to rapid partial restoration of the x-ray damaged antigen retention system. This effect was already clearly discernible when 125 I-AHGG was injected 1 day after cell infusion, and became very pronounced when the labeled antigen was given 8 days after cell infusion. In contrast, no significant recovery was observed in mice receiving either thymus cells, bone marrow cells or no cells after x-irradiation. The cell doses were approximately equivalent to one-third spleen, one thymus, one femur and the peritoneal cavity cells recoverable from one mouse. The weight, histologic and autoradiographic studies suggest that spleen and peritoneal exudate cell suspensions contain cells (or their precursors) instrumental in recovery of (and probably also in unimpaired) follicular antigen localization. Further studies are needed to determine the nature of the cells involved and precisely what role they play in the enhancement of recovery of antigen localization after x-irradiation.