Quiescent lymphocytes express intracellular transferrin receptors

Both quiescent and concanavalin A stimulated murine splenic lymphocytes were examined for the expression of surface and intracellular binding sites for the serum glycoprotein transferrin. Transferrin binding activity was observed on the surface of mitogen stimulated cells only. When soluble detergent extracts of both populations were studied, quiescent lymphocytes were shown to contain a significant pool of non-surface exposed, intracellular receptors which was approximately 20% of the total receptor complement of proliferating cells. Because the ratio of surface to intracellular binding sites was dramatically increased following mitogen stimulation, the regulation of transferrin receptor expression during this process may involve a substantial alteration in its subcellular distribution in addition to the well documented increase in number of binding sites.