Whole blood assay for examining lymphocyte blastogenesis of percichthyid bass (Morone) [corrected]

A simple and reproducible method was developed for the measurement of blastogenesis of peripheral blood lymphocytes using whole blood of hybrid bass (striped bass [Morone saxatilis] female x white bass [M. chrysops] male) stimulated with Concanavalin A, phytohemagglutinin-P, lipopolysaccharide or pokeweed mitogen. Compared to traditional methods which use leucocyte separation procedures, whole blood culture is faster and less expensive. Only small aliquots of blood (10 microliters per culture well) were needed, which would be beneficial for sampling small fish as well as for taking multiple samples from single animals. Optimal culture conditions for hybrid bass, including mitogen concentration, incubation temperature and incubation period, were determined. This is the first report to demonstrate a blastogenic response of whole blood cells in fish.