Preparative scale separation of functionally distinct murine B cell subpopulations.

Mouse splenic B cells were found to be rapidly and reproducibly fractionated by adherence at 4 degrees C to plastic dishes pretreated with an alkaline buffer. The cell subsets obtained exhibited marked differences in size, surface immunoglobulins (sIg), and responses to B mitogens. Adherent B lymphocytes, bearing high densities of sIg, responded particularly to LPS whereas non-adherent B lymphocytes, with low densities of sIg, responded especially to dextran sulfate. The correlations between the separated populations and subsets at distinct maturation stages are discussed.