You wish to test the role of the thymus in the developing immune system of a new

Question

You wish to test the role of the thymus in the developing immune system of a newly identified species of mouse. For this study, animals are thymectomized at different times after birth. Six weeks later they are immunized with 107 sheep red blood cells (SRBC) and circulating levels of serum anti-SRBC antibodies are measured two weeks later:

      Group           Thymectomy               Age at Operation*           mg/ml anti-SRBC ab

        A                        Yes                              12 hours                                0.3

        B                        Yes                                3 days                                  0.8

        C                        Yes                               21 days                               120.2

        D                         No                                     --                                    119.3

* Time indicated for thymectomy is for qualitative purposes only.

What can you infer from the table about the role of the thymus in the development of antibody responses to SRBC?

Explanation / Answer

Thymus is the site of production of mature T cells as the thymectomy will happen which lead to decrease in the effect of cell mediate response or humoral response. Through humoral response T cells is responsible for the activation of B cell and divide it into memory cells and plasma cells.the memory cells is responsible for the production of antibody for the long term.As per the above conditions thymectomy will happen at different interval due to which certaim increase in the level of antibodies this will happwn due to presence of mature T cells in the body which will cause humoral response.

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