T and B Cells in Various Lymphoid Tissues in Mice: Membrane Immunofluorescence with Purified Lymphoid Cells

Abstract

The proportion of T and B cells in several lymphoid tissues of the mouse was determined by membrane immunofluorescence. Lymphoid cell preparations were purified by glass-wool column and Hypoque-Ficoll sedimentation to eliminate the large majority of non-lymphoid cells which might introduce counting errors on fluorescence microscopy. FITC-labelled horse anti-mouse-globulin did not stain thymocytes (T cells) whereas it did stain a proportion of the lymphocytes of other lymphoid tissues (B cells): peripheral blood, 11%; bone marrow, lymph node, 23%; spleen, 24%. These results correlated well with the proportion of cells stained by anti-B cell sera obtained by the complete absorption of anti-lymphocyte serum (ALS) with thymocytes.