Immune activation of guinea pig lymphocytes type "cerebriform" and type "hand mirror". An ultrastructural study.

The fine structure of lymphocytes type "cerebriform" and type "hand mirror" from guinea pigs was analyzed. The cells were isolated from three groups of animals, immunized with BCG, F. tularensis (LVS) or plague vaccine (EV-Brubaker), respectively, and stimulated in vitro with the corresponding antigen six weeks after the immunizations. Both, the "cerebriform" and "hand mirror" lymphocytes were present in the T-cell fractions but not in the B-cell ones. Upon stimulation, these types of cells reacted uniformly, independently of the antigen used. This was expressed in cell volume increase, inversion of the nucleo-cytoplasm index, proliferation of organelles, hypertrophy of the Golgi complex, dispersion of the nuclear chromatin and an increase of the number of cytoplasmic projections. According to ultrastructural characteristics the subpopulation of the "cerebriform" lymphocytes was non-uniform. It is possible that some of the cells express cytotoxic functions.