Kinetic study of T lymphocytes after sensitization against soluble antigen. III. Potentiation and suppression of the PHA response by antigen-activated lymphocytes of low density.

Lymph node cells of ovalbumin-sensitized rats were separated on the basis of buoyant density into fractions reciprocally enriched in cells responsive to ovalbumin or phytohemagglutinin (PHA). Recombination of high density and low density fractions in varying proportions resulted in potentiation or suppression of the DNA synthetic response to PHA in culture. The response of cultures containing equal numbers of high and low density cells was markedly greater than the sum of the two populations stimulated separately. However, when decreasing numbers of low density cells were cultured with a constant number of high density cells, profound suppression was observed.