LYMPHOCYTOPOIETIC FACTOR IN LYMPH

A Yamashita, T Fukumoto, M Miyamoto

Abstract


The evidences which suggest the presence of a
lymphocytopoietic factor in rat thoracic duct lymph
are summarized briefly. The intravenous injections of
the extracted materials from lymph plamsa into
syngeneic recipient rats resulted in the massive
proliferation of lymphoid cells predominantly in the
thymus dependent areas and thymic cortex, suggesting
that the target cells for the factor are not marrow-derived
(B) cells, but thymus derived (T) cells. The
existence of a thymus is not necessarily required for
the production or secretion of the factor. The
augmenting effect of the factor on T cell functions,
eg. local graft-versus-host rection and helper activity
of plaque forming response to sheep erythrocytes, is
mentioned. The physicochemical characteristics of
tlle factor are nondialysable and heat-stable glycoprotein
molecules. The roles of lymph humoral factor
in T cell-differentiation or proliferation are discussed.


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