Evaluation of the Diffusion Chamber Culture Technique for Study of the Morphological and Functional Characteristics of Lymphoid Cells during Antibody Production

Abstract

Diffusion chambers constructed of 0.1 µ porosity filters and implanted into the peritoneal cavities of irradiated recipient mice have been found most useful for quantitatively evaluating cultures of isologous spleen cells during antibody response. During the first 3 days of culture there is an 88% decrease in the total number of cells which can be recovered; thereafter, the number of cells remains constant for at least 12 days. The production of hemagglutinin follows the typical time-course of antibody production by cells cultured freely in the peritoneal cavity of recipients. Synthesis of new antibody by cells cultured in chambers continues for at least 14 days and during the stationary phase of the response is presumably balanced by an equivalent rate of decay of existing antibody. During the over-all decline in total cell number during the first 3 days of cultures undergoing primary antibody response, certain types of cells undergo a relative increase. These are reticulum, blast and plasma cells and phagocytes which are induced to selectively proliferate by antigen-stimulation. Other types of cells, viz., granulocytes and normoblasts decrease disproportionately.