Antibody production by cells in tissue culture. I. Morphological evolution of lymph node and spleen cells in culture

Abstract

An organ culture technique was used to investigate the migration and the morphological evolution of lymphocytes from lymphopoietic tissues. This evolution was compared with the behavior of cells extracted from the tissue and kept in nutritive medium in vitro. It was found that cells were continuously migrating from the fragments of lymph nodes or spleen, and were attaching to the glass. They spread on glass, their protoplasm enlarged and their nucleus became clearer. The evolution towards blastoid cells was identical with that described under artificial stimulation by PHA for example. Cytological identification of the cells actively engaged in antibody synthesis (as detected by local hemolysis in gum) at the time of staining, showed that several distinct cellular types were active, including plasma cells and macrophagelike cells. It is assumed that the stimulated lymphocytes, after spontaneous migration from the tissue are able to evolve into an "immunoblast" stage and then, eventually after fixation upon a physical support, to initiate antibody synthesis.