INVITRO INVESTIGATION OF AUTOANTIBODY-SECRETING PERITONEAL-CELLS AND THEIR REGULATION

  • 1 January 1979
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 38  (2) , 355-365
Abstract
A high proportion of peritoneal cells from untreated mice after 4-5 days in culture develop into plaque-forming cells against bromelain-treated mouse red blood cells (RBC). The number of plaque-forming cells was increased significantly by exposing the peritoneal cells to NH4Cl to lyse RBC before culture. The increase was significantly inhibited by adding before culture untreated or bromelain-treated sheep or mouse RBC. Treated or untreated horse or rat RBC did not inhibit the increase. Treating peritoneal cells or subpopulations of peritoneal cells with anti-.theta. serum and complement before culture caused a significant increase in the number of plaque-forming cells against bromelain-treated RBC after 3-4 days of culture. Peritoneal cells were fractionated into B[bone marrow-derived]-cell enriched and B cell depleted subpopulations before culture and after culture to investigate whether some of the plaque-forming cells could be attributed to phagocytic cells. Changes in the number of plaque-forming cells against bromelain-treated mouse red blood cells paralleled changes in B cells. The proportion of plaque-forming cells observed sometimes represented up to 85% of the B cells present. The high level of autoreactivity may be due to antibody production by B cells. Phagocytic cells apparently are not forming spurious plaques. The autoimmunity may be regulated by T[thymus-derived]-cells and may be inhibited by mouse RBC.