摘要：

Our understanding of the biochemical and biophysical events associated with lymphocyte activation and mitogenesis has grown with improvements in technology and with advances in our knowledge of the regulation of the immune system as a whole. Since receptors peculiar to the immune system apparently utilize signal transduction pathways common in other more extensively studied systems such as muscle and liver, it has been possible to apply techniques and concepts developed previously in other systems to the investigation of B and T cell signaling. As a result our understanding of signal transduction in lymphocytes has progressed rapidly. Indeed, it appears that some novel concepts such as the role of K+ channels in mitogenesis and the interactions between Ca2+, Na+, H+, and K+ transport mechanisms in the regulation of mitogenesis are now being developed with lymphocytes as model systems. This chapter will focus on the ion transport mechanisms identified in lymphocytes and the changes in their transport properties observed on cell activation by a number of stimuli, e.g., ligand-receptor interaction, nonspecific mitogens, tumor promotors. As one signal transduction mechanism commonly observed in these cells involves turnover of membrane inositol and subsequent activation of protein kinase C, a survey of the literature concerning these phenoma is also included. However, it is clear that in lymphocytes, as in other systems, intracellular mediators interact in a complex and delicately regulated manner, and the reader is urged to read reviews in this volume and elsewhere which address other biochemical events associated with lymphocyte activation (Chaps. 2 and 4).

展开