| First Author | Fu YX | Year | 2000 |
| Journal | J Immunol | Volume | 164 |
| Issue | 5 | Pages | 2508-14 |
| PubMed ID | 10679088 | Mgi Jnum | J:126988 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3762457 | Doi | 10.4049/jimmunol.164.5.2508 |
| Citation | Fu YX, et al. (2000) Lymphotoxin-alpha-dependent spleen microenvironment supports the generation of memory B cells and is required for their subsequent antigen-induced activation. J Immunol 164(5):2508-14 |
| abstractText | Lymphotoxin alpha-deficient (LTalpha-/-) mice show dramatically reduced IgG responses after either primary or secondary immunizations with sheep red blood cells (SRBC). When splenocytes from SRBC-primed wild-type donor mice were infused into irradiated naive wild-type recipient mice, they generated a robust memory IgG response, but not when infused into LTalpha-/- recipients, indicating that the microenvironment that develops in LTalpha-/- mice is incompetent to support the activation of this memory response. When irradiated wild-type mice were reconstituted with splenocytes from primed LTalpha-/- donors and then challenged with the same immunizing Ag, no memory response was observed, indicating further that memory cells could not be generated in the LTalpha-/- environment. To address which lymphocyte subsets were impaired in the LTalpha-/- mice, we performed reconstitution experiments using a hapten/carrier system and T cells and B cells from different primed donors. There was no detectable defect in either the generation or expression of memory T cells from LTalpha-/- donors. In contrast, B cells were not primed for memory in the microenvironment of LTalpha-/- mice. Additionally, primed wild-type memory B cells could not express a memory IgG response in the LTalpha-/- microenvironment. Thus, splenic white pulp structure, which depends on the expression of LTalpha for its development and maintenance, is needed to support the generation of memory B cells and to permit existing memory B cells to express an isotype switched memory Ig response following antigenic challenge. |
