Germinal Center (Paperback)

High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles Germinal centers (or germinal centres; GC) are sites within lymph nodes (also within lymph nodules in peripheral lymph tissues) where mature B lymphocytes rapidly proliferate, differentiate, mutate their antibodies (through somatic hypermutation), and class switch their antibodies during a normal immune response to an infection. During this process of rapid division and selection, B cells are known as centroblasts, and once they have stopped proliferating they are known as centrocytes. Germinal centres are an important part of the B-cell humoral immune response. They develop dynamically after the activation of B-cells by T-dependent antigen. Histologically, the GCs describe microscopically distinguishable parts in lymphoid tissues.