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Biomedical subjects

W Lernhardt

Publications and source records attributed to W Lernhardt.

23 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

The purified protein derivative of turberculin, a B-cell mitogen that distinguishes in its action resting, small B cells from activated B-cell blasts.

The purified protein derivative of tuberculin (PPD tuberculin) stimulates approximately one of two lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-activated B-cell blasts of C57BL/6J nu/nu spleen cells to continued clonal growth and maturation to IgM and IgG secretion. It alwo stimulates background, in vivo-activated large cells of normal C57BL/6J nu/nu spleen to growth and Ig secretion, at a frequency of approximately 1 of 100 large spleen cells. PPD tuberculin, therefore, is a polyclonal B-cell activator for B-cell blasts. Many single murine splenic B cells (approximately 50%) appear to have reactivities, and therefore probably receptors, for LPS and PPD tuberculin. PPD tuberculin does not stimulate small, resting B cells to growth as measured by the number of cells in culture and by thymidine uptake. However, it stimulates approximately one-fourth of all spleen cells to blast transformation. The large-size blast cells secrete IgM and, therefore, form plaques in the protein A plaque assay. IgG-secreting, plaque-forming cells develop at later stages of stimulation, indicating that the switch from IgM to IgG may occur without division in single, stimulated B cells. Stimulation of resting B cells to maturation by PPD tuberculin is polyclonal. Thus, approximately 1 in 10(2) IgM-secreting plaque-forming cells form plaques with trinitrophenyl-substituted sheep erythrocytes, 1 in 450 do so with horse erythrocytes, and 1 in 10(3) with sheep erythrocytes. Furthermore, the number of Ig-secreting cells developing from small, resting cells without growth in cultures with or without filler thymus cells suggests polyclonal activation by PPD tuberculin to maturation only of at least one out of four small, splenic B cells.

Animals↗

Fine specificity of a continuously growing killer cell clone specific for H-Y antigen.

H-Y-specific cytotoxic T cells were first cloned in soft agar and grown over a period of 8 months in media conditioned with supernatants from mouse and rat spleen cells stimulated with concanavalin A. The specificity of cloned cells and their cytolytic potential remained essentially unchanged over the entire culture period. In addition to lysing male target cells expressing H-2Db antigens, the cytolytic cells lysed also male as well as female cells expressing H-2Dd alloantigens. Seventeen out of eighteen subclones derived from the original clone revealed the same activity. The cells divide about every 17--20 h can be obtained in large quantities.

Animals↗

Clonal growth and maturation to immunoglobulin secretion in vitro of every growth-inducible B lymphocyte.

The frequency of normal murine B lymphocytes initiating growth in diluted suspension cultures in the presence of a B cell mitogen, such as lipopolysaccharide, can be increased approximately 10(4) fold by the addition of 2 X 10(6) normal thymus cells per ml. This increase in the frequency of growing cells by thymus cells can also be observed with X63-AG8 myeloma tumor cells secreting IgG1. Thus thymus cells may not contribute growth-stimulating factors, but may supply growth-supporting factors. Culture medium and plastic dishes can be conditioned by preincubation with thymus cells for a day after which the thymus cells may be omitted from further culture for maximal B cell growth. Irradiation of thymus cell abolishes their growth-enhancing properties. Thymus cells can be syngeneic and allogeneic with the growing B cells. The frequency of growing LPS-reactive, normal B cells in spleen of 6-8 week old C3H/Tif mice was determined by limiting dilution analysis to be one of three splenic B cells. With this limiting dilution analysis, it was also shown that the cloning efficiency of XB3-AG8 myeloma tumor cells in suspension culture in the presence of thymus cells is practically 100%. Analysis of the growth kinetics of single clones of LPS-reactive, normal B cells shown that these B cells divide every 18 hr. Within the first 126 hr of growth, every B cell in the clone divides, and every dividing B cell in this clone secretes sufficient immonoglobulin to form a hemolytic plaque. The conditions of in vitro suspension cultures of murine B lymphocytes are therefore perfect to the extent that every B cell capable of growth will grow as a single clone.

B-Lymphocytes↗