Early haemopoietic responses to Salmonella typhimurium infection in resistant and susceptible mice.

The response of colony forming cells in the bone marrow and spleen of resistant (CBA) and susceptible (C57BL) mice to Salmonella typhimurium infection was studied for 4 days after infection. The number and size of the colonies were assessed. The resistant strain exhibited an immediate response to challenge, sharply increasing the number of colonies to 2.5 times normal over 2-3 days after infection. In contrast the susceptible strain gave a slowly increased response to the same challenge, which never exceeded 1.2 times normal and fell to 0.8 times the normal. When mouse strains were immunized there was a clear distinction between the splenic and bone marrow cellularity. Immunization appeared to enhance the splenic cellularity in resistant mice but failed to in susceptible mice. In the bone marrow of susceptible mice, however, there was some evidence of an elevated response.