title: Metaphase yields from staphylococcal enterotoxin A stimulated peripheral blood lymphocytes of unirradiated and irradiated aged rhesus monkeys.
abstract: The mitogen phytohemagglutinin (PHA) works well in both human and cynomolgus monkey (Macaca fascicularis) lymphocyte cultures to stimulate T cell proliferation. T cells from rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) are less responsive than human cells, producing few metaphases when thousands are required, e.g. in biological dosimetry studies. We show that staphylococcal enterotoxin A (SEA), one of the most potent mitogens known, at a concentration of 0.5 microgram/ml stimulated peripheral lymphocytes to grow with a mitotic index (MI) averaging 0.13 metaphases/cell in old, irradiated rhesus macaques. This was significantly greater (p < 0.001) than that produced by PHA (MI < 0.01) in lymphocytes from the same animals. Whole blood was cultured for 96, 120 and 144 h for five irradiated individuals and for two controls. All cells cultured with SEA produced a high MI with a peak response at 120 h whereas the same cultures showed low MI for each PHA stimulated culture.
authors.affiliation: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, University of California, Livermore 94551.
authors.forename: F S
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Hill
authors.forename: A B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Cox
authors.forename: Y L
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Salmon
authors.forename: A O
authors.initials: AO
authors.lastname: Cantu
authors.forename: J N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Lucas
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D004768:Enterotoxins / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000528:radiation effects; D008253:Macaca mulatta; D008677:Metaphase / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000528:radiation effects; D008940:Mitotic Index / Q000187:drug effects / Q000528:radiation effects; D010835:Phytohemagglutinins / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D004768:Enterotoxins; D010835:Phytohemagglutinins; C026066:enterotoxin A, Staphylococcal