Abstract
Human peripheral blood lymphocytes were stimulated with phytohemagglutinin and tuberculin-purified protein derivative to determine if flow microfluorometric techniques had the sensitivity to detect high and low levels of blastogenic response. The deoxyribonucleic acid content of the lymphocytes was analyzed after culture. Blastogenic response was found to be measurable both sensitively and reproducibly. Tritiated thymidine incorporation measurements were also made. Preliminary experiments using inactivated Herpesvirion (type I) as a stimulant showed blastogenic response detectable by flow microfluorometric deoxyribonucleic acid measurements. Refinements of this technique may prove to be useful in the study of lymphocyte response to viral antigens in patient populations.