The Effect of Antigens on DNA‐Synthesis in Cultured Lymphocytes

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Abstract
Lymphocytes were isolated from the peripheral blood of healthy blood donors and stimulated in vitro to DNA‐synthesis by the addition of antigens. The addition of two or four antigens to the same culture of lymphocytic cells did not increase the synthesis of DNA above the level induced by a single antigen. Controls with phytohaemagglutinin showed that the in vitro conditions did not represent limiting factors for the synthesis of DNA.It appears that the response of isolated peripheral blood lymphocytes to one antigen is maximal and that further stimulation with more antigens can not produce the additive effect expected if there were separate clones of lymphocytes for each antigen.