ABSTRACT
The immunological and physiological profile of the nude mouse may change with time, due also to improving breeding conditions. Thymic dysgenesis results in the nude mouse from a yet unidentified defect which may be both ectodermal and mesenchymal. The nude mouse has a small, but slowly expanding population of T cells, in addition to the prethymic cells which make up the bulk of the nude mouse T-cell populations. Nude mice of some backgrounds may develop a quantitatively and qualitatively almost normal T-cell system. Bone marrow stem cells are depressed in all nu gene-bearing mice. However, direct progenitors of mononuclear phagocytes and granulocytes appear to be abundant in the periphery. Phagocytic systems and monokines secreted by mononuclear phagocytes are the main compensatory measure for the T deficiency. During their short history, a number of endocrine disorders have been described in the nude mice, in many cases dependent on their microbiological status.
