Biological effects of Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in vivo. I. Selection in the mouse thymus of killer and helper cells.

In the present study we have investigated the biological effects on thymus lymphocytes resulting from Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS) treatment in young adult mice. It has been established that LPS induces the following effects: (a) a dose-dependent reduction of thymus weight contemporaneous with a rise in the anti-LPS antibody response; (b) an increase of killer activity of thymus cells; (c) an enhancement of thymocytes helper activity; (d) a reduction of theta-positive cells in the thymus; (e) a cellular depletion in the thymus cortex. These data, indicating that LPS selects in the thymus a population of cells more efficient in expressing both killer and helper functions, are interpreted as caused by an increased rate of cortisol secretion induced by the LPS treatment.