Differences in lifespan and rate of turnover between phytohaemagglutinin responsive cells of the bone marrow and of peripheral lymphoid organs.

Radioautographic analyses were performed on PHA stimulated cultures of in vivo labelled cells obtained from mice previously injected with 3H-TdR to selectively label either cells with a rapid renewal rate (RR) or a slow renewal rate (SR). ha responsive cells in the bone marrow (BM) were found to be virtually all RR cells, whereas both RR and SR cells from lymph nodes (LN) and spleen (Spl) were stimulated by this mitogen. However, RR cells were proportionately more responsive to PHA than SR cells in all tissues examined. Only one out of 200 BM PHA blasts belonged to the SR subclass, whereas the RR/SR ratio was approximately 1/1 for LN and 2/1 for Spl. Control experiments demonstrated that significant in vitro re-utilization of 3H-TdR from dying cells did not occur in the cultures. These results support a growing body of evidence that BM PHA responsive cells are precursor T-cells which are known to have a rapid turnover rate.