ABSTRACT
When high specific-activity thymidine was included in culture, antigen-specific B cell responses were ablated showing that B cell proliferation was required for a specific immune response. To investigate the role of growth factors in B cell activation, the author choses Anti-Immunoglobulin (Anti-lg) to model antigen effects. Several reports in the literature have shown that high concentrations of anti-Ig alone are sufficient to induce B cell proliferation. Resting splenic, murine B cells were cultured at low cell density for 2 days with vinblastine and the indicated stimulants. BCL1 B cell leukemia cells were isolated from mouse spleen and cultured 3 days with the indicated additions, in the presence of vinblastine. One interleukin, B Cell Stimulatory Factor-1 or Interleukin 4, is known to enhance anti-Ig-mediated B cell proliferation. It is possible to divide B cells into many distinct populations according to anatomical location, size, density of surface markers and other characteristics.
