POKEWEED MITOGEN-, CONCANAVALIN A-, AND PHYTOHEMAGGLUTININ-INDUCED DEVELOPMENT OF CYTOTOXIC EFFECTOR LYMPHOCYTES

Abstract

Cultures of chicken lymphoid tissues were tested for their capacity to lyse ⁵¹Cr-labeled chicken, burro (BRC), and human red blood cells (HRC) in the presence of phytomitogens. PHA-stimulated cultures lysed all three types of targets, while PWM and Con A showed a "target cell specificity" for HRC and BRC, respectively. In mixtures of target cells only the appropriate targets were lysed by lymphocytes activated by either Con A or PWM indicating that soluble lymphotoxins do not play a major role in these reactions. Preincubation experiments suggested that there may be a population of pre-existing aggressor cells which only require linking to the targets by the mitogens for activation of their cytotoxic potential.