NONSPECIFIC ACTIVATION OF MURINE LYMPHOCYTES .2. PARAMETERS OF INTERACTION BETWEEN SPLENIC LYMPHOCYTES AND RADIOLABELED 2-MERCAPTOETHANOL INVITRO

  • 1 January 1978
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 120  (5) , 1453-1459
Abstract
Addition of 2-mercaptoethanol (2-ME) to culture medium activates murine lymphocytes to undergo blastogenesis, to synthesize polyclonal antibody and to develop cytotoxicity to autologous and heterologous target cells. To explore the basis for these phenomena, a study of the physical interaction between the cell and 2-ME was undertaken by using a radiolabeled preparation of 2-ME. Uptake of labeled 2-ME increased over the initial 24 h of culture, after which a steady state was achieved. Cells had maximal susceptibility to activation by 2-ME after incubation for 24 h in the absence of the thiol compound. This observation was not explicable in terms of any alteration in the kinetics of 2-ME uptake. The amount of labeled 2-ME taken up was a function of the 2-ME concentration with which the cell was incubated, with the exception of the concentration range that was optimal for mitogenesis. At this range, the curve was suggestive of a saturation effect. Uptake by B [bone marrow-derived] cell cultures exceeded that by T [thymus-derived] cell cultures. Uptake was a result of interaction with protein, independent of metabolic energy, governed by temperature-dependent kinetics and highly specific.