Studies of the affinity of nuclear material for uroporphyrin: II. Phytohemagglutinin “transformed” rat peritoneal lymphocytes

Peritoneal exudates of rats injected intraperitoneally with PHA-P over a 10-day period contained many cells morphologically similar to the transformed lymphocytes observed when rat peripheral lymphocytes are cultured in vitro, in the presence of PHA. These transformed cells were the only cell type among those of the peritoneal exudate to retain uroporphyrin in the nucleus for up to 24 hours after injection of the porphyrin. Peritoneal cells and peripheral lymphocytes from normal rats not given PHA-P did not contain any uroporphyrin under similar conditions. In respect to the affinity of nuclear material for uroporphyrin the PHA-P stimulated cells are similar to Ehrlich ascites tumor cells.