Initiation of the primary immune response to sheep red blood cells in the dissociated mouse spleen cell culture. II. Histochemical study on the cell clusters developed during the in vitro immune response.

Abstract

From a suspension of mouse spleen cells were separated two functionally different cell types on the basis of their ability or inability to adhere to plastic dishes during a short period of incubation. Morphological observations of cells of these two fractions were made with the aid of histochemical methods. The majority of cells in the adherent fraction possessed β-glucuronidase, which is one of the lysosomal enzymes rich in macrophages or phagocytic cells. In contrast, almost all cells in the non-adherent fraction were devoid of this enzyme activity and identified morphologically as small lymphocytes. The adherent and non-adherent cells were found to associate in cell clusters during the cultivation. In the cultures stimulated with sheep red blood cells, some of the non-adherent cells which were located peripherically in the cell clusters began to show alkaline phosphatase activity in their cytoplasm. This may perhaps indicate that antibody synthesis is going on in these alkaline phosphatase-positive cells, since in an in vivo study such cells were found to arise in the lymph nodes of immunized animals concomitantly with the appearance of specific serum antibody.