The motility of human T lymphocytes

The motility of lymphocytes from human blood was investigated to determine whether the capacity for motility resides in all blood lymphocytes or in a restricted population. Lymphocyte suspensions were mixed with SRBC or neuraminidase treated SRBC and examined microscopically for rosettes and free motile lymphocytes simultaneously. An inverse relationship was demonstrated between the numbers of rosettes and of free lymphocytes with a motile configuration. By subjecting the data to a linear regression analysis, it was shown that motile lymphocytes in human blood under the experimental conditions imposed were T lymphocytes. In addition, it was found that human plasma contains a natural inhibitor of the motile configuration of T lymphocytes. Enzymatic hydrolysis and gel filtration experiments indicated that the inhibitor was a protein with an estimated molecular weight of approximately 1 x 10⁶ daltons.