Abstract
WHEN human small lymphocytes are incubated in vitro with phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) a large proportion of them transform into large, rapidly dividing lymphoblasts1. Synthesis of DNA begins about 24 h after the addition of PHA2. Nowell1 and Newsome3 found that when lymphocytes were in contact with PHA for 1 h or less a lesser degree of transformation took place, and preliminary results in this laboratory suggest that exposure of lymphocytes to PHA for 3 h results in substantial transformation4, as judged by the incorporation of 14C amino-acids into protein. This finding has been re-investigated in the light of recent reports that little transformation or synthesis of DNA occurs if the period of exposure to PHA is less than 24 h (refs. 5–7).
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References
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KAY, J. Rapid Activation of Lymphocytes by Phytohaemagglutinin. Nature 215, 737–738 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1038/215737a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/215737a0
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