Carrier and Hapten Antibody-Producing Cells,in Vitro I. Cytokinetics

Abstract

Summary

Normal spleen cells or HRBC-primed spleen cells were cultured with HRBC, TNP-HRBC or without an in vitro immunogen. Anti-HRBC and anti-TNP responses were assessed on Days 2, 3, and 4. Antibody-producing cells detected on Day 2 arose mainly from late, on Day 3 from intermediate and on Day 4 from early precursor cell types. We envision APC development proceeding through the following maturation sequence: early precursor cells → intermediate precursor cells → late precursor cells → APC. The relative proportion of these precursor cell types at any given time is dependent on the immunological status of the animal. Later precursor cell types can be triggered non-specifically to develop into APC.

This work was supported by GM 15956 and AEC Contract No. C00-1632-30. T.L.P. was supported by NIH 1 F02 GM 50743-01. We thank Ahmed Elashkar for his skillful technical assistance.