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EGTA and proteinase reversal of cellular aggregation of activated lymphocytes

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Abstract

ABUNDANT evidence indicates that cellular aggregation is essential for cellular cooperation in a number of physiological events, including embryogenesis and morphogenesis1. Cell-to-cell contact has been observed in lymphoid–macrophage cell cultures activated by antigens2,3; furthermore, it is recognised that proliferative responses to mitogenic lectins are dependent upon contact between cells4,10. To date, the nature of the cellular associations in lymphoid–macrophage cultures activated by antigens and mitogens has not been clarified. We designed the present study to evaluate some aspects of cellular associations in lymphoid–macrophage cultures activated by a variety of antigens and the mitogenic lectin, phytohaemagglutinin (PHA). Enhanced cellular aggregation was observed in cultures activated by all agents tested. Time and temperature experiments indicate that aggregation is an active process, distinct from passive agglutination. The cellular association is sensitive to proteinase and the calcium chelator, EGTA, suggesting that both proteins and calcium are essential for the cell aggregation of activated cultures.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, and Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 55455

    ALICE N. NEELY, JAMES V. SITZMANN & JOHN H. KERSEY

Authors
  1. ALICE N. NEELY
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  2. JAMES V. SITZMANN
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  3. JOHN H. KERSEY
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NEELY, A., SITZMANN, J. & KERSEY, J. EGTA and proteinase reversal of cellular aggregation of activated lymphocytes. Nature 264, 770–771 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1038/264770a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/264770a0

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