Healthy, adult C57BL/6Kh mice of both sexes were transfused with blood or blood products from syngeneic donors with retrovirus (LP-BM5)-induced lymphoproliferative disease. The disease produced in the recipients 8 weeks after transfusion was characterized by splenomegaly, disseminated lymphadenopathy, leukopenia with neutrophilia, abrogation of the primary immune response to SRBC, decreased in vitro proliferation of spleen cells co-stimulated with phorbol ester and IL-2 or ionomycin and abrogation of synergistic effect of the co stimulators. Quantitative analysis of the blood or blood products used for transfusion show that a single transfusion of 0.2 ml of PBS containing 0.2 mu 1 of whole blood or 2 microliters of plasma or 400 Ficoll-isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells was sufficient for the inducing the disease. The results suggest that the retroviruses were present in preparations of peripheral blood mononuclear cells and plasma of mice with the disease. However, the latter was 10-fold less efficient in inducing the disease. Transfusion of 1.8 x 10(6) isolated erythrocytes failed to induce the disease suggesting a marginal role, if any, in transmission of the disease via transfusion of these cells. Thus, a simple, reliable and reproducible method for propagation of the murine lymphoproliferative disease in the laboratory has been elaborated. These results also point to some important differences with regard to blood transfusion between human and murine AIDS.