Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Transformation, in vivo, of Basophilic Lymph Cells into Plasma Cells

Abstract

IT has been shown that large, rapidly dividing basophilic cells containing specific antibody appear in the efferent lymph about 70–100 h after a lymph node receives an antigenic stimulus1,2. Electron microscope investigations3,4 showed that while the cytoplasm of these basophilic cells contained large amounts of ribosomal material, often arranged in rosettes or spirals, there was little endoplasmic reticulum even though some of these cells could be shown to be synthesizing and releasing antibody5. The hypothesis has been advanced3 that these mobile, lymphborne cells are able to colonize lymphoid tissue remote from the site of antigenic stimulation and thus bring about the propagation of the systemic immune response. Experimental support for this “messenger” concept was provided by draining off the lymph from locally stimulated lymph nodes in sheep. When this was done no circulating antibody appeared in the blood, but when the washed lymph cells were injected into an effectively syngeneic recipient sheep (a chimaeric twin) a high titre of antibody was later detected in the blood of the recipient3. The simplest explanation of these results is that, in the intact animal, the basophilic cells, which are released into the lymph by the node that receives the actual antigenic stimulus, enter other lymph nodes and then develop an extensive endoplasmic reticulum and so become the classical plasma cells that are responsible for the actual synthesis and release of most antibody protein. In order to test this proposition the basophilic cells in the efferent lymph from an antigenically stimulated node were labelled in vitro with tritiated thymidine. The labelled cells were then infused by way of an afferent lymphatic into another lymph node of the same sheep. 24 h later the node that had received the infusion of labelled cells was excised and immediately fixed. Autoradiographs of sections of the lymph node were prepared and then examined in the electron microscope. In this way it was possible to observe the changes in the ultrastructure of the labelled basophilic cells that had occurred during 24 h in the environment of a lymph node.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Hall, J. G., and Morris, B., Quart. J. Exp. Physiol., 47, 360 (1962).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Hall, J. G., and Morris, B., Quart. J. Exp. Physiol., 48, 235 (1963).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Hall, J. G., Morris, B., Moreno, G. D., and Bessis, M. C., J. Exp. Med., 125, 91 (1967).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Alexander, P., Delorme, E. J., and Hall, J. G., Lancet, i, 1186 (1966).

  5. Cunningham, A. J., Smith, J. B., and Mercer, E. H., J. Exp. Med., 124, 701 (1966).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Salpeter, M. M., and Bachmann, L., J. Cell Biol., 22, 469 (1964).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Karnovsky, M. J., J. Cell Biol., 11, 729 (1961).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Hummler, K., Harris, T. N., Tomassini, N. H. M., and Farber, M. B., J. Exp. Med., 124, 255 (1966).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Gowans, J. L., and Knight, E. J., Proc. Roy. Soc., B, 159, 257 (1964).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Inman, D. R., and Cooper, E. H., J. Cell Biol., 19, 441 (1963).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Gowans, J. L., McGregor, D. D., Cowen, D. M., and Ford, C. E., Nature, 196, 651 (1962).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Porter, K. A., and Cooper, E. H., Lancet, ii, 317 (1962).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

BIRBECK, M., HALL, J. Transformation, in vivo, of Basophilic Lymph Cells into Plasma Cells. Nature 214, 183–185 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1038/214183a0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/214183a0

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing