摘要：

Mice of the New Zealand Black (NZB) strain develop positive antiglobulin (Coombs) tests from the age of 5 months and haemolytic anaemia of the "warm antibody" (IgG) type. They also develop lymphocytic thymomas which are transplantable, and gross splenomegaly and lymphadenopathy caused by extensive proliferation of plasma or reticulum cells. Large amounts of macroglobulin (IgM) are produced by these mice. This is probably associated with the lymphoid-plasma cells identified in impression smears of bone marrow, spleen, and lymph nodes and with the globules of FAS-positive material seen in sections of these organs. The spleen, lymph nodes, and thymus all exhibit similar histological patterns of activity. The first phase, primarly of lymphoid hyperplasia, extends from the age of 3-11 months and is followed by a second phase of massive hyperplasia of the plasma cells and reticulum cells. Similar changes are seen in the lungs and liver while the kidney glomeruli show progressive thickening and hyalinization of the basement membranes. It is suggested that the thymus of NZB mice is unable to control the balance of lymphocytes, plasma cells, and reticulum cells throughout the body and that the animals may be immunologically hyperactive to antigenic stimuli of many kinds. This implies that macroglobulinaemia, autoimmune haemolytic anaemia, leukaemia, and uncontrolled proliferation of plasma or reticulum cells, occurring singly or in combination, may all be expressions of a basic thymic dysfunction.

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