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Heterogeneity Among Alveolar Macrophages in Humoral and Cell‐Mediated Immune Responses: Separation of Functional Subpopulations by Density Gradient Centrifugation on Percoll
Author(s) -
Murphy Mary Ann,
Herscowitz Herbert B.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
journal of leukocyte biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.819
H-Index - 191
eISSN - 1938-3673
pISSN - 0741-5400
DOI - 10.1002/jlb.35.1.39
Subject(s) - percoll , biology , lymphokine , differential centrifugation , immune system , antigen , in vitro , splenocyte , microbiology and biotechnology , immunology , centrifugation , pulmonary alveolus , macrophage , biochemistry
Rabbit alveolar macrophages (AM) were separated into four subpopulations by centrifugation on discontinuous density gradients of Percoll. The subpopulations were compared to unseparated AM populations for their ability to provide accessory function to adherent cell‐depleted splenocytes for antigen‐stimulated lymphoproliferation and for the production of lymphokine. They were also tested for their ability to modulate in vitro plaque‐forming (PFC) responses. AM subpopulations that provided accessory function for the production of migration inhibitory factor (MIF)‐containing culture supernantants were recovered from the least dense fractions of the Percoll gradients. These cells were cytochemically characterized as mature cells. AM that suppressed the in vitro PFC response and augmented the antigen‐stimulated lymphoproliferative response to the greatest degree were recovered from the most dense fractions of the Percoll gradients and were characterized as immature cells. These results suggest that there are distinct subpopulatins of AM, the function of which may represent different stages of maturation (or differentiation).