Separation and functional analysis of subpopulations of lymphocytes bearing complement and Fc receptors

A highly versatile procedure is described in this review which can be used to separate and obtain in pure form subpopulations of lymphoid cells which express different cell surface structures. The method is based on the observation that when rosetting and non-rosetting leukocytes are centrifuged on a cushion of Isopaque/Ficoll, the rosetting leukocytes and red cells sink whereas the non-rosetting leukocytes float. Thus, any subpopulation of leukocytes can be separated providing they can be identified by rosetting. The earlier sections of this review describe the method, its efficiency of separation and its advantages compared with other fractionation procedures. Subsequent sections describe experiments in which the procedure was specifically applied to separating Fc receptor (Fc+) and complement receptor (CR+) lymphocytes. On the basis of these two receptors it was possible to subdivide T and B lymphocytes into distinct subpopulations. Four subclasses of B lymphocytes were identified in mouse spleen (Fc+CR+,Fc+CR-,Fc-CR+ and Fc-CR-) and two subclasses of T cells were also detected (Fc+ and Fc-). The functional relevance of these subpopulations of lymphocytes was examined. It was found that in all cases examined, antigens could successfully activate CR+ B cells to produce antibody. However, only polymeric antigens, whether T-dependent or T-independent, were capable of triggering CR- B cells to synthesize antibody. Furthermore, preliminary experiments suggest that Fc receptors are present on functional B cells and helper T cells but are not expressed on cytotoxic T cells. On the basis of these results it is proposed that complement receptors on B lymphocytes provide an additional binding site which stabilizes the union between the antigen-specific receptors and soluble antigen. In contrast, due to their multi-determinant nature, polymeric antigens can avidly bind to B cells without involvement of the complement receptors. The possibility of Fc receptors playing a similar role in stabilizing the interaction of antigen with specific receptors on lymphocytes, particularly on T helper cells, is also discussed.