Genetic control of B-cell responses. I. Selective unresponsiveness to lipopolysaccharide.

Spleen cells from C3H/HeJ mice fail to develop both proliferative responses and increased polyclonal antibody secretion in the presence of concentrations of the B-cell mitogen lipopolysaccharide that are optimal for the induction of B-cell responses in conventional strains. This unresponsiveness is selective for lipopolysaccharide, since C3H/HeJ spleen cells respond normally to two other polyclonal B-cell activators-dextran-sulphate and purified protein derivative of tuberculin. These findings are interpreted as indicating a selective defect in the B-cell subpopulation that responds to lipopolysaccharides in conventional strains.