[Analysis and fractionation of human tonsillar lymphocytes]

Among the human tonsillar cells, 28.0 +/- 3.1 and 45.14 +/- 2.16% were found to be E and EAC rosette forming cells, resp. In the course of the separation procedure with nylon cotton, in the authors' modification, the cells failing to form rosettes were almost entirely adhering irreversibly to the nylon wool. The 3H-thymidine incorporation in these cells was very intensive, and we supposed them to be T and B lymphoblasts. On the basis of E and EAC rosette formation, the percentage of T and B lymphocytes in human tonsils--as reported by various authors--is different. It may be supposed that methods employed by these authors did not demonstrate the equal extent of transformed forms of lymphocytes, i.e. lymphoblasts, whose amount may be influenced by the functional condition of tonsils.