CiteULike is a free online bibliography manager. Register and you can start organising your references online.

Rabbit appendix: a site of development and selection of the B cell repertoire. Export

Current topics in microbiology and immunology, Vol. 229 (1998), pp. 59-70.

Citation Format

[Posts]

View FullText article


virag's tags for this article

antibody_repertoire appendix b_cell rabbit

X Reviews [Write a review of this article]

X Find related articles from these CiteULike users

X Find related articles with these CiteULike tags

X Posting History

X Abstract

As early as 1963, it was proposed that the rabbit appendix was a homologue of the chicken bursa of Fabricius (ARCHER et al. 1963). The finding that the young rabbit appendix was thymus independent contributed to the concept of central primary lymphoid tissue. Today we know that appendix is a site that generates the high copy number primary repertoire through diversification of rearranged VH genes by gene conversion-like and somatic hypermutation mechanisms. Thus the appendix of young rabbits functions as a mammalian bursal equivalent. In the appendix, newly generated B cells also undergo selection processes involving self and foreign antigens and superantigens. Preferential expansion and survival of B cells in normal and mutant ali rabbits based on FR1 and FR3 expression may involve "superantigen"-like interactions with endogenous and exogenous ligands. One endogenous ligand appears to be CD5. Additional ligands may be produced by gut flora. Further studies in the rabbit model are needed to determine the fates of emigrants from primary GALT, their sites of postulated self-renewal in the periphery, and the nature of secondary diversification in secondary germinal centers where populations of B lymphocyte memory cells may develop. These data may also be helpful in understanding how the repertoire of human B cells is formed and how this repertoire might be manipulated for clinical benefit.


X BibTeX record

X RIS record


Privacy Statement | Terms & Conditions
CiteULike organises scholarly (or academic) papers or literature and provides bibliographic (which means it makes bibliographies) for universities and higher education establishments. It helps undergraduates and postgraduates. People studying for PhDs or in postdoctoral (postdoc) positions. The service is similar in scope to EndNote or RefWorks or any other reference manager like BibTeX, but it is a social bookmarking service for scientists and humanities researchers.