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Sera and the in Vitro Induction of Immune Responses

I. Bacterial Contamination and the Generation of Good Fetal Bovine Sera¹

From the Department of Bacteriology and Immunology, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720

Abstract

More than 200 samples of pooled fetal bovine sera (FBS) were tested to determine their capacity to support primary immune responses by cultured mouse spleen cells. Less than 10% of the FBS samples were fully supportive; the majority of the samples were moderately to very deficient. Several lines of evidence suggest that bacterial contamination during the processing of sera plays a major role in determining which sera are supportive. Serum samples known to have been temporarily contaminated during processing were strongly supportive. Samples of FBS which were likely never to have been contaminated were deficient. Bacteria from a specific lot of supportive serum converted a very deficient serum into one which was supportive. Several mechanisms by which bacteria could affect sera are discussed.

Footnotes

¹ This work was supported by Grant AI-8817-06 from the National Institutes of Health, Contract NO1-CB-23883 from the National Institutes of Health and an Arthritis Foundation Fellowship to Stanley Shiigi from the Arthritis Foundation.