Augmentation by 2‐Mercaptoethanol of In Vitro Anti‐TNP Antibody Production Induced by Butyrate Plus IL‐2 in Murine Splenic B Cells

Abstract

We previously reported that anti‐trinitrophenyl (TNP) antibody production in murine splenic B cells stimulated with TNP‐lipopolysaccharide in vitro was promoted by sodium butyrate (NaBu) in an IL‐2‐dependent manner. In the present study, we found that the effect of NaBu plus IL‐2 was markedly augmented by 2‐mercaptoethanol (2‐ME), which showed a slight or null effect on the response of untreated, IL‐2‐treated or NaBu‐treated B cells, as assessed by both anti‐TNP plaque‐forming cell assay and anti‐TNP IgM ELISA. Other thiol compounds such as dithiothreitol, cysteamine and reduced glutathione (GSH) also had this activity. 2‐ME enhanced the anti‐TNP antibody production induced by other short‐chain fatty acids with three to five carbon atoms plus IL‐2. The proliferation of B cells was significantly inhibited by NaBu or NaBu plus IL‐2, and the proliferation was completely restored by the simultaneous addition of 2‐ME. These results demonstrate that 2‐ME markedly enhanced anti‐TNP antibody production in murine B cells induced by NaBu plus IL‐2 and suggest that the effect of 2‐ME is at least partly due to its blocking activity of the growth‐inhibitory action of NaBu.