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Lymphoreticular System Response in AKR/J and C57BL/6J Mice¹

Divisions of Experimental Chemotherapy and Drug Resistance, Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research, and Sloan-Kettering Division, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Cornell University Medical College, New York, New York 10021

AKR/J and C57BL/6J mice were compared for spleen and thymus weights, peripheral lymphocytes, marrow and plasma cell counts, and serum proteins. The lymphoreticular response of both strains to various treatments was determined. At 6 weeks of age, lymphocytic levels in all groups of AKR/J mice were the lowest; the average was 5,270/cu mm for 349 AKR/J mice and 6,800/cu mm for 370 C57BL/6J mice. The count of the 20-week-old AKR/J mice was 5,700 and that of the C57BL/6J mice, 7,500; respective counts of thymectomized mice were about the same, 5,000 for AKR/J and 7,200 for C57BL/6J mice.

Cytoxan temporarily depressed the lymphocytic count. One week after total-body X-irradiation, the lymphocytes decreased in both strains. At 20 weeks of age, the count was only 3,600 for AKR/J but 7,300 for C57BL/6J mice; after thymectomy + X-irradiation, it was 3,000 for AKR/J and 5,100 for C57BL/6J mice. Following adrenalectomy the lymphocytic count increased in both strains. Counts after thymectomy + adrenalectomy were higher than after thymectomy but lower than after adrenalectomy.

The AKR/J mice had lower spleen weights and lower bone marrow counts but higher thymus weights. Also, the -globulin content and plasma cell counts in 6- and 20-week-old AKR/J mice were lower than in the respective C57BL/6J mice.

¹ This study was supported in part by NCI grant CA 08748 and by ACS grant T-107. A preliminary report was presented at the Fifty-eighth Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research at Chicago, Illinois, April 13–15, 1967.

Received 8/22/67. Accepted 1/ 9/68.