Differences in two‐dimensional patterns of cellular proteins from murine T‐ and B‐lymphocytes after mitogenic stimulation

Splenocytes from inbred mice strains were stimulated with concanavalin A (Con A) or lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to form T‐ or B‐blasts. Following three days of mitogenic stimulation, immunofluorescence of the splenocytes with a rabbit antimouse‐immunoglobulin antiserum conjugated with fluorescein isothiocyanate revealed an extensive enrichment of T‐blasts by Con A and of B‐blasts by LPS. The cell preparations, however, represented enriched but not pure populations of T‐ or B‐blasts. Two‐dimensional electrophoretic resolution of cellular proteins from Con A or LPS‐stimulated murine splenocytes and subsequent silver staining of the polyacrylamide gels showed approximately 450 spots (polypeptides). Comparative analysis of the resulting patterns revealed 13 differences specific to the T‐cells and 8 specific to the B‐cells. In order to ascertain the reproducibility of the differences of two‐dimensional protein patterns from Con A and LPS stimulated splenocytes, the experiment was performed several times using two different inbred mice strains (C57B1/6 and BALB/c). Interstrain specific differences were also found at a molecular mass of about 68 kDa and at a p I range between 6.1 and 5.85.