Non-T cell-mediated cytolysis of antibody-coated sheep red blood cells requires Mg++ but not Ca++: An argument against a conventional "stimulus-secretion" mechanism for cytolysis.

"Stimulus-secretion" processes, and notably those in which the stimulus is provided by the formation of an antigen-antibody complex at the cell surface, require the presence of external Ca++. To test the possiblity that effector cells, in non-T cell mediated cytolysis, might be triggered to release a cytolytic product by a similar mechanism, we investigated the requirements of this phenomenon for divalent cations. We found that Ca++ is not sufficient, not necessary, and not inhibitory, whereas Mg++ is necessary and sufficient. Other cations were tested, and we found that Mn++ behaved like Mg++. The Ca++ data suggest that no conventional "stimulus-secretion" process is operative in non-T cell mediated cytolysis of antibody-coated sheep red blood cells.