THE SEPARATION OF DIFFERENT CELL CLASSES FROM LYMPHOID ORGANS

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Abstract
Summary: Lymph node cells are retained by columns of siliconed glass beads (60–90 μ diameter) when cell suspensions are passed through the columns at 4°. Trapping of cells is almost complete when serum is absent from the suspension medium, but decreases with increasing serum concentration. Cells trapped by the columns may be recovered by disrupting the bed of beads. The retention seems to depend on both simple filtration and physical adsorption effects.Under certain conditions the cells form a series in order of their probability of retention, namely: Damaged cells > blasts > plasma cells > small lymphocytes > erythrocytes. This has been the basis for three separation procedures: (1) Removal of damaged cells from cell suspensions; (2) separation of suspensions into a series of fractions differing in the relative proportions of various cell types; (3) purification of small lymphocytes.Small lymphocytes, free from damaged cells, were purified by filtration through the column to select the 9% least adherent cells. Contaminants included 5% erythrocytes, but less than 0·1% of other cell types. The level of deoxyribonucleic acid synthesizing cells was reduced 70‐fold compared to the original suspension, and the preparation showed a relatively narrow size range distribution.