Concanavalin A stimulation of mouse lymphocytes at low concentration. II. The effect of conditioned medium from peritoneal exudate cells and from lymphocyte cultures.

The first paper in this series reported that it was possible to reconstitute the response of low concentrations of mouse spleen lymphocytes to concanavalin A (Con A) by adding smaller numbers of peritoneal exudate cells (PEC) to the cultures. In this paper it is shown that the role of the PEC in this system can be partially replaced by conditioned medium (CM) prepared from PEC cultures or completely replaced by CM taken from lymphocytes cultured at optimal concentration. These CM were inactive unless fresh Con A was added to the assay cultures. Activity was present in Cm which was incubated with lymphocytes or PEC for the shortest possible time but maximal activity was found after 24 hr of incubation. Activity was also found in Cm prepared in the absence of Con A. Only in the case of lymphocytes cultured at optimal concentration for 24 hr was there substantially more activity in the CM thus prepared if Con A was present. PEC preparations depleted of T lymphocytes produced as much activity in Cm as the untreated control. CM produced by PEC was less sensitive to heat treatment or to freezing and thawing than that produced by lymphocyte cultures.