Physiological Variation in Circulating B Cell: T Cell Ratio in Man

Investigations on the effect of exercise are reported on the ability of exercise to provoke a rapid and substantial lymphocytosis through mobilisation of cells normally sequestered in undetermined sites.

Abstract

T LYMPHOCYTES in human peripheral blood may be identified by their ability to form rosettes in vitro with untreated sheep erythrocytes1–7. This test has been widely applied to detect disturbances in the B:T cell ratio in various disease states3,5,7–11, there is, however, no published information on the stability or otherwise of the blood B:T cell ratio in health. Such studies are required because it is known that fluctuations occur readily in the numbers and proportions of the different classes of circulating leukocytes12. Diurnal variation principally affects the granulocytes but exercise, emotion and the administration of adrenaline are all known to provoke a rapid and substantial lymphocytosis through mobilisation of cells normally sequestered in undetermined sites12–15. Here we report investigations on the effect of exercise.