Staphylococcal protein A bound to Sepharose 4B is mitogenic for T cells but not B cells from rabbit tissues.
The mitogenicity of protein A from Staphylococcus aureus bound to Sepharose 4B (SpA-S) was tested against mononuclear cells from normal rabbit spleens and Peyer's patches after using Sephadex G-10 adherence chromatography to deplete macrophages and Sephadex G-200 anti-rabbit F(ab')2 immunoabsorbent columns to obtain B-enriched lymphocytes. Macrophage-depleted unseparated lymphocytes and the B-cell-depleted (T-cell-enriched) fractions from both tissues consistently showed good mitogenic responses to SpA-S. In contrast, the B-cell-enriched populations from either tissue did not respond to SpA-S. Supplementary experiments employing glass adherence and T-cell autorosetting did not support the possibility that the more efficient immunoabsorbent method of B-cell isolation had in some way caused the unresponsiveness to SpA-S. These results indicate that SpA-S is mitogenic for rabbit tissue T cells but will not serve as a T-independent mitogen for rabbit tissue B cells.
D000818:Animals; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D002469:Cell Separation / Q000379:methods; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D008212:Lymphocyte Depletion; D008264:Macrophages / Q000276:immunology; D008934:Mitogens; D011817:Rabbits; D012685:Sepharose / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology*; D013205:Staphylococcal Protein A / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology*
D008934:Mitogens; D013205:Staphylococcal Protein A; D012685:Sepharose