An antiserum which recognizes lipopolysaccharide-reactive B cells in the mouse.

Rabbit antisera have been prepared against spleen B cells from C3H/Tif mice, high responders to lipopolysaccharide (LPS). After complete absorption on tissues of C3H/Hej mice (LPS nonresponders), such antisera specifically stain and kill (in the presence of complement) a fraction of the B cells from a number of LPS high responder strains, and fail to recognize any cells in two different LPS nonresponder strains, C3H/HeJ and C57B1/10.Sc.Cr. The ontogeny, organ and strain distribution of this B cell marker parallels LPS reactivity. Frequencies of cells stained by this antiserum correspond to the frequencies of LPS-reactive B cell precursors recently determined. This antigent(s) is expressed by LPS-activated B cell blasts but not by cells which remain small after 48 h in the presence of LPS. Removal of the cells recognized by the antisera leads to depletion of LPS-reactive cells, while enriching for reactivity to another B cell mitogen, e.g. lipoprotein.