Polyclonal Activation of Human B Lymphocytes in Vitro by Pokeweed Mitogen: a Simple Technique for the Simultaneous Assessment of Cell Proliferation, Generation of Plasma Cells, Plaque‐forming Cells and Immunoglobulin Production

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
A simple technique has been worked out for the simultaneous assessment of cell proliferation, generation of plasma cells, plaque-forming cells and immunoglobulin production from single cultures of 1 × 104 human peripheral blood lymphocytes stimulated with pokeweed mitogen (PWM). Kinetic studies showed that number of cells, thymidine incorporation rate, number of plaque-forming cells against fluorescein-isothiocyanate-haptenated sheep erythrocytes and concentration of IgM and IgG in the supernatant peaked on the average between day 5 and 7 of culture. This technique is particularly suitable for the analysis of hypogammaglobulinaemias in infancy.