Restoration of antibody-forming capacity in cultures of nonadherent spleen cells by mercaptoethanol.

Populations of mouse spleen cells, without those cells that adhere to glass or plastic, exhibit little or no capacity for formation of antibody to sheep erythrocytes in the Mishell-Dutton culture system. When 5 x 10(-5)M mercaptoethanol is added to the culture medium, the antibody-forming capacity of these nonadherent spleen cells is restored to that of unfractionated spleen cells.