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Science 28 January 1972:
Vol. 175. no. 4020, pp. 446 - 448
DOI: 10.1126/science.175.4020.446
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Articles

Bone Marrow: The Bursa Equivalent in Man?

Nabih I. Abdou 1 and Nancy L. Abdou 2

1 Division of Allergy and Immunology, School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania and Veterans Administration Hospital, Philadelphia 19104
2 Hematology Department, University of Pennsylvania Service, Philadelphia General Hospital, Philadelphia 19104

Human bone marrow lymphoid cells, particularly when enriched with plasma cells, as in multiple myeloma, respond to pokeweed mitogen and to antiserum to immunoglobulin but not to phytohemagglutinin. Cells of patients with X-linked agammaglobulinemia of the bursal deficient type failed to respond to either pokeweed or to the antiserum to immunoglobulin. Leukocytes of the agammaglobulinemia patients however responded in a normal fashion to phytohemagglutinin. Just as the in vitro response to phytohemagglutinin is taken as an index of the thymus-dependent system, the in vitro response to both antiserum to immunoglobulin and pokeweed may be considered an index for the bursaldependent system. Human bone marrow, therefore, contains bursal cells and probably very few or no thymus cells.


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