The influence of microtiter plates from different suppliers on lymphocyte proliferation

Microtiter plates have been popularly used for lymphocyte culture, but the influence of culture plates from different sources has not been investigated. In this study, the degree of mitogen-induced cell proliferation was investigated using six different brands of flat-bottomed plates. Lymphocytes from twelve normal donors were cultured for 96 hours with several mitogens including PHA, Con A and PWM. Spontaneous cell proliferation was slow and it did not differ significantly among the different plates. However, mitogen-induced cell proliferation showed a wide variation among the six types of plates used. The importance of selecting certain kinds of plates for specific purposes is emphasized.