The participation of human peripheral blood lymphocytes with Fc receptors for IgG or IgM in the fetal bovine serum induction of amplifier cell activity.

The culture of human peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) in fetal bovine serum (FBS) supplemented media results in the activation of an amplifier activity for mitogen or antigen induced proliferative responses. T cells are required for the generation of amplifier cells. In addition, this amplifier activity was shown to require a cell with Fc receptors for IgG but lacked Fc receptors for IgM. Therefore, it appears that the FBS induced amplifier cells have the same characteristics as the FBS culture induced NK-like cytotoxic and proliferating cells, i.e. these cells are of T cell origin, Fc gamma positive, and Fc mu negative. These FBS-cultured PBL may be a useful model for studying cell interactions and regulatory phenomena in human lymphoid cells.