Cell Respiration as a Requirement for Antibody Release in vitro

Abstract

FORMATION of haemolytic plaques in gel by lymphoid cells from animals immunized with heterologous erythrocytes^1,2 is inhibited by cyanide³. This has been interpreted as an indication that plaque formation results from active antibody production. There is, however, evidence to suggest that cyanide acts directly on antibody to prevent plaque formation⁴. Neither of these alternative explanations for the action of cyanide accounts for the following observations: cyanide added to immunized lymphoid cells on the third day of the primary response reduced the number of haemolytic plaques by more than 90 per cent, while the same procedure reduced by only 50 per cent the number of haemolytic plaques obtained on the third day of the secondary response⁵. These findings led to a series of experiments on the effect of several inhibitors of cell respiration on plaque formation. The results indicate that these inhibitors act directly on cells, and not on antibody, to prevent plaque formation by cells obtained during the early primary response. Many plaques not suppressible by inhibitors of respiration may be “false plaques”, that is, plaques produced by release of antibody adsorbed to small platelet or platelet-cell aggregates (unpublished work of Fitch).