Identification of bovine lymphocyte subpopulations by a combined bacterial adherence and fluorescent antibody technique.

It is known that certain strains of bacteria bind selectively to subpopulations of human peripheral blood lymphocytes. We have developed a technique which used the specificity of bacterial binding concurrently with fluorescent antibody staining methods to identify 5 B-cell and 5 T-cell subpopulations of bovine lymphocytes. In addition, greater than 95% of the peripheral blood lymphocytes could be positively identified as being either T-cells or B cells. Using ethidium bromide-stained bacteria and lymphocytes in combination with fluorescent antibody staining to detect surface immunoglobulins or T-cell antigens, the method provided a simple yet highly specific technique for the enumeration of both B and T cells in 1 preparation of peripheral blood lymphocytes. The use of bacterial rosetting with fluorescent antibody staining was found to be easier and more reliable than the methods currently used to identify bovine B- and T-lymphocyte subpopulations.