2‐Mercaptoethanol‐Dependent Lipopolysaccharide‐Responsive B Cells in Nylon‐Wool‐Fractionated Spleen Cell Preparations

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Abstract
The ability of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to influence lymphocyte mitogenresponsiveness to 2-mercaptoethanol (2-ME) was investigated. 2-ME was mitogenic for splenocytes only when fetal bovine serum lots containing elevated endotoxin levels were used to supplement (5%) the culture medium. 2-ME did not stimulate mitosis of nylon-wool-fractionated splenocytes (NWSC): however, 2-ME induced significan proliferation in the NWSC cell preparations whenendotoxin-deficient culture medium was supplemented with doses of LPS whichalone did not stimulate significant proliferation. The sIg* and Thy-1-/Lyt-l- fractions of NWSC, which represented less than 5% of the cells in the‘T-cell preparations', were almost completely dependent on 2-ME for proliferation in response to LPS stimulation. These data indicate that nylon-wool-fractionated preparations cuntain splenic B cells that incorporate significant amounts of [3H]thymidine when stimulated with LPS and 2-ME.