Cell composition of the thymus after immunization with bacterial and viral antigens

Abstract

Single or repeated injections of various vaccines (heated typhoid, typhoid vaccine, adsorbed tissue vaccine against tick-borne encephalitis) into guinea pigs induces the development of a cell response in the thymus that affects the whole cell population. Changes in the number of certain cell forms, such as thymoblasts, are of short duration and correspond to the acute phase of the response. The response of other cells, for example basofils, can be detected in the tissue for many days. Most of the changes taking place in the tissue of the thymus after immunization are nonspecific in character. The view that morphological changes in the thymus do not occur in response to ordinary immunization requires closer examination.