title: Function of 2-mercaptoethanol as a macrophage substitute in the primary immune response in vitro.
abstract: The mechanism by which 2-ME acts as a macrophage-substitute for the induction of a primary PFC response to SRC in vitro was studied in macrophage-depleted mouse spleen cell cultures. 2-ME could replace macrophages only in FCS-supplemented cultures. Evidence is presented that the function of 2-ME is independent of residual macrophages. Neither normal nor macrophage-depleted spleen cell cultures from congenitally athymic nude mice supplemented with 2-ME, with or without FCS, could give rise to a primary in vitro anti-SRC immune response. 2-ME, at an optimal concentration of 10(-5) M, induced DNA synthesis in normal and macrophage-depleted spleen cells in both FCS-containing and serum-free cultures. The peak response occurred on day 3. The stimulation was accompanied by a polyclonal B cell activation to antibody secretion which was much more pronounced in FCS-containing than in serum-free cultures. Spleen cells from nude mice showed a weaker DNA stimulation than did cells from normal mice in FCS-containing cultures, and nearly no response under serum-free conditions. T cells obtained by a nylon column adherence method from normal mouse spleen cells showed good DNA synthetic responses in FCS-containing, but no response in serum-free cultures. These results show that 2-ME has weak mitogenic activity for B cells, and in combination with FCS, strong mitogenic activity for T cells. Since the macrophage provides stimulation to the T cell in the primary anti-SRC PFC response in vitro, these results suggest that the direct mitogenic activity of 2-ME with FCS on T cells provides the functional substitution for macrophages.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000917:Antibody Formation; D000941:Antigens; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000276:immunology; D005260:Female; D005312:Fetal Blood; D008264:Macrophages / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D008623:Mercaptoethanol / Q000276:immunology*; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D013154:Spleen / Q000166:cytology; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000941:Antigens; D008623:Mercaptoethanol