Chemotaxis of rat lymphocytes

Rat lymphocytes obtained from spleens, lymph nodes, and thymus glands showed migratory responses to a variety of factors including fluids from mixed lymphocyte culture fluids from concanavalin A stimulated cells, fluids from phagocytizing macrophages, and to anti rat IgG. Migratory responses to the last factor were bimodal over a dose range of anti Ig; at high concentrations of anti Ig, the response appeared to be nonspecific, whereas, at low concentrations, the responses seemed to be chemotactic in character. When lymphocytes from spleens, lymph nodes, and thymic glands were compared, qualitative and quantitative differences on the responses were evident with use of the 3 attractants. When spleen lymphocytes were separated into T cell and B cell enriched fractions, T cells responded to the culture fluids from mixed lymphocyte cultures, whereas B cells seemed to respond poorly, if at all. Only B cells responded to anti Ig. These findings may explain, at least in part, the accumulation of lymphoid cells at sites of inflammatory stimuli.