"Immunoblasts" and "immunocytes"--an attempt at a functional nomenclature.

D URING the past twenty years, it has come to be realized that antibodies are produced in a cell complex which has become popularly known by the rather unwieldy term of “immunologically competent cells.” This complex consists not only of reticulum cells, which were the first to be generally considered as antibody producers, but of lymphocytes and plasmocytes as well. The role of the plasmocyte in tile production of 7 S gamma globulins, which are readily detectable in the serum ( i.e., humoral antibodies ) , is well substantiated. As for the lymphocyte, there is as yet very little evidence showing that this cell is either a secretory cell like the plasmocyte, or has a gamma globulin connected with it that can be detected by usual or unusual means. On the other hand, ample evidence is at hand indicating that lymphoid cells participate in the immunologic phenomena of delayed hyper-