The nature of the response of conventional and CD5⁺ B cells to stimulation in vitro with optimal mitogenic concentrations of LPS was examined to elucidate the contributions of these B cell subsets in polyclonal B lymphocyte responses. Stimulation of murine splenic lymphocytes with LPS resulted in an increase in total biomass, peaking at 72 h of culture. The viability of the cultures remained high (>90%) until 48 h of culture. A combination of trypan blue and 7‐aminoactinomycin D (7AAD) exclusion in conjunction with PE‐anti‐CD5 and FITC‐anti‐B220 enabled more detailed analysis of the cultures. The total number of conventional B cells, viable and non‐viable, increased until 48 h of culture and then decreased when stimulated with LPS, while CD5⁺ B cells increased over the culture period. The numbers of conventional B cells in the control cultures decreased, but the CD5⁺ B cell numbers remained stable. An examination of the modes of death of the B cell subsets using 7AAD showed that unstimulated conventional B cells were apoptotic rather than degenerate but, following stimulation with LPS, apoptotic and degenerate cells were found. Apoptotic and degenerate CD5⁺ B cells were found in both stimulated and unstimulated cultures, but the percentage of these apoptotic and degenerate cells was increased significantly only at 72 h and 96 h of culture in stimulated cultures compared with 24 h onwards in the control cultures. Morphological analysis and gel electrophoretic studies of extracted DNA reflected these findings. It was also found that the increase in the number and percentage of non‐viable cells in the cultures was not equal to the decrease in the number and percentage of viable cells. Activation of B cells was examined using expression of B7‐1 (CD80) as a marker. When stimulated with LPS a greater proportion of conventional B cells expressed B7‐1 after 24 h of culture than in the control cultures; however, only at 72 h and 96 h of culture was the proportion of CD5⁺ B cells expressing B7‐1 significantly higher than in the control cultures. These results show that conventional B cells are stimulated to proliferate and to become activated by LPS and that death is apoptotic rather than degenerate or necrotic. CD5⁺ B cells were also shown to be stimulated by LPS; they became activated and death was delayed. The data suggest that in addition to the proliferative role, LPS acts to delay death and to activate conventional and CD5⁺ B cells.