Mouse lymphocytes with and without surface immunoglobulin: preparative scale separation in polystyrene tissue culture dishes coated with specifically purified anti-immunoglobulin.

Mouse spleen cells could be preparatively separated into immunoglobulin positive (Ig+) and immunoglobulin-netative (Ig-)populations by incubating as many as 2 X 10(8) cells per 100 mm diameter petri plate coated with specifically purified goat anti-mouse immunoglobulin. The non-adherent population was 95% or more Ig-, and possessed graft versus host and cytotoxic effector activities, as would be expected for T cells. They could also give a mixed lymphocyte reaction and generate cytotoxic effector activity on culture in vitro. The adherent cells could not be released undamaged from plates coated with undiluted anti-Ig, but they could be released from plates coated with a 1/4 or 1/10 dilution of anti-Ig in an irrelevant antibody. The released cells were over 90% viable by trypan-blue staining, and 94% or more of the viable cells were Ig+.