Vibrioanguillarum antigen stimulates mitogenesis and polyclonal activation of salmonid lymphocytes

Abstract

An antigen preparation of Vibrioanguillarum, a salmonid pathogen, acts as a potent invitro mitogenic stimulator of splenic and pronephric (anterior kidney) lymphocytes from coho salmon (Oncorhynchuskisutch), chinook salmon (O.tshawytscha) and rainbow trout (Salmogairdneri). This antigen (VA) is comparable in its mitogenic activity to Concanavalin A (Con A), Escherichiacoli lipopolysaccharide (LPS), and phytohemagglutinin (PHA). VA gives peak mitogenic responses in coho five days after initiation of cell culture. VA also appears to be a nonspecific polyclonal activator as determined by the generation of plaque forming cells to trinitrophenyl (TNP) and fluorescein (FI) haptenic determinants. Chemical characterization is limited, but it appears that Vibrio LPS could be responsible for these activities.

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