Sustained engraftment of mice transplanted with IL-1-primed blood-derived stem cells.

IL-1 is considered the primary mediator of the acute phase response. One of the characteristic manifestations of this response is early neutrophilia that is probably caused by release of mature neutrophils from the bone marrow into the peripheral blood. In the present study, we assessed whether IL-1 had a similar releasing effect on the number of circulating progenitor cells and stem cells. Female BALB/c mice were injected i.p. with increasing (0.1-1.0 micrograms/mouse) concentrations of rhu-IL-1 alpha. IL-1 injection resulted in a marked dose-dependent increase in the number of polymorphonuclear neutrophils, granulocyte-macrophage colony-forming units (CFU-GM), and cells forming spleen colonies (CFU-S day 8 and day 12). The maximal increase was found at 4 to 8 h after injection of 1 micrograms IL-1 per mouse, yielding a mean fivefold elevation in neutrophil count, and a mean 30-fold and 10-fold increase in the number of circulating CFU-GM and CFU-S, respectively. In a subsequent series of experiments, lethally irradiated (8.5 Gy) female recipient animals were transplanted with 5 x 10(5) blood mononuclear cells derived from male IL-1-treated animals. Long-term survival was obtained in 68% of mice transplanted with peripheral blood cells derived from donor animals at 6 h after a single injection of 1 micrograms IL-1. The mean number of circulating CFU-GM in these donor animals was 557/ml blood. At 6 mo after transplantation, greater than 95% of the bone marrow cells were of male origin, as determined using in situ hybridization with a Y-chromosome specific probe. In contrast, long-term survival was reached in less than 10% of mice transplanted with an equal number of blood cells derived from saline-treated controls or donor animals treated with a dose of 0.1 micrograms IL-1. These results indicate that a single injection of IL-1 induces a shift of hematopoietic progenitor cells and marrow repopulating cells into peripheral blood and that these cells can be used to rescue and permanently repopulate the bone marrow of lethally irradiated recipients.     

The effect of splenectomy on bone marrow haematopoiesis in mice.

Splenectomy was performed in strain H mice. Erythrocyte macrocytosis and an increase in the reticulocyte, leucocyte and thrombocyte count were found in the peripheral blood of splenectomized animals; only the erythrocyte count fell in the first 3 weeks after splenectomy. Changes in the myelogram during the first weeks after splenectomy were characterized by an increase in the proportion of cells of the erythrocytic and lymphocytic series. The stem cell count in the bone marrow (determined after Till and McCulloch) was slightly elevated on the 8th day after splenectomy, but in subsequent weeks was rather lower than the control group values. Whatever the post-splenectomy interval at which bone marrow was taken from splenectomized mice, there was no significant difference in the transplantation effect of bone marrow cells on white and thrombocyte haematopoiesis. Bone marrow transplantation was found have a stimulant effect only on the reticulocyte count and the sooner bone marrow was collected after splenectomy, the more pronounced the effect. Changes in the myelogram and splenogram of irradiated mice to which the bone marrow cells of splenectomized mice had been transplanted were relatively small.     

Magnetic field affects thymidine kinase in vivo

Whole mice on normal or vitamin E deficient diet were immobilized by Nembutal anaesthesia and exposed to a stationary magnetic field of 1.4 tesla for up to 60 min. Thymidine kinase (TdR-K) was assayed in the high-speed supernatant of bone marrow cells which were collected into optimally adjusted nutrient medium of pH 7.3-7.4 containing 1350 mg NaHCO3 per litre and were then destroyed by sonication. In parallel, uptake of 125I-labelled 5-I-2'-deoxyuridine (125IUdR) into DNA of whole bone marrow cells, of various tissues and of the whole body was measured. The results indicate the following. The magnetic field exposure caused in bone marrow cells an increase of activity of TdR-K and of uptake of 125IUdR to about 130 per cent of control. The effect depended on immobilization of the mice in the field and on the presence of NaHCO3 in the nutrient medium used for cell collection. There was no field-induced change in body temperature. The effect on 125IUdR uptake was similar in isolated tissues and the whole body following intraperitoneal injection of the tracer. It increased to a maximum of about 135 per cent of control, during exposure times over 30 min. This effect is not explained as a result of a temporary change in the rate of cell proliferation. Vitamin E deficiency caused a depression of activity of TdR-K and of uptake of 125IUdR in bone marrow cells to about 75 per cent of control. This depression was similar to that observed after whole body gamma-irradiation with about 0.01 Gy (1 rad). The inhibitory effects of vitamin E deficiency on TdR-K were overcome by exposure to the magnetic field. Immediately after cessation of the magnetic field for 60 min, 125IUdR uptake was normal; normalization of uptake was delayed with exposure times shorter than 60 min. A 60 min exposure to the magnetic field had no long term effect on turnover of labelled cells in the mice. The data imply the non-specific control of thymidine kinase by charged molecular species and the modification of this control by the magnetic field.     

Radioprotection of mice with interleukin-1: relationship to the number of erythroid and granulocyte-macrophage colony-forming cells

This report presents the results of an investigation of changes in the number of erythroid and granulocyte-macrophage colony-forming cells (GM-CFC) that had occurred in tissues of normal B6D2F1 mice 20 h after administration of a radioprotective dose (150 ng) of human recombinant interleukin-1 (rIL-1). Neutrophilia in the peripheral blood and changes in the tissue distribution of GM-CFC demonstrated that cells were mobilized from the bone marrow in response to rIL-1 injection. For example, 20 h after rIL-1 injection marrow GM-CFC numbers were 80% of the numbers in bone marrow from saline-injected mice. Associated with this decrease there was a twofold increase in the number of peripheral blood and splenic GM-CFC. Also, as determined by hydroxyurea injection, there was an increase in the number of GM-CFC in S phase of the cell cycle in the spleen, but not in the bone marrow. Data in this report suggest that when compared to the spleen, stimulation of granulopoiesis after rIL-1 injection is delayed in the bone marrow. Also, the earlier recovery of GM-CFC in the bone marrow of irradiated mice is not dependent upon an increase in the number of GM-CFC at the time of irradiation.     

HAPO促进放射损伤小鼠的造血重建

目的 明确人促血液血管细胞生成素 (HAPO)对骨髓抑制小鼠的造血重建作用。方法 研究HAPO、G-CSF对骨髓抑制小鼠的促造血作用,以700 cGy 137Csγ射线全身照射的Balb/c小鼠为模型,观察照射后小鼠的生存率;检查血常规;计数内源性脾结节;计数骨髓细胞数;采用半固体培养基进行集落培养检测骨髓细胞的高增殖潜能;取小鼠骨髓细胞接种于96孔培养板,分别在照射前或照射后加HAPO、G-CSF培养72hr,MTT方法测定活细胞数;取小鼠骨髓细胞,分别在照射后加HAPO,培养3周后观察各组小鼠骨髓细胞的生长情况。结果 HAPO、G-CSF均可明显提高放射后的小鼠的生存率;使内源性的脾集落增加。照射后的各组小鼠外周血白细胞变化较为明显,HAPO组白细胞恢复快于PBS组,也可高于G-CSF组。各组小鼠骨髓细胞数虽然14天时G-CSF组最为明显,但32天时HAPO组骨髓细胞数超过G-CSF组,至42天时基本恢复正常;而G-CSF组在32天、42天时骨髓细胞数仍低于正常值。在7天、14天、32天时取各组小鼠骨髓细胞高增殖潜能检测试验,HAPO组生成的GEMM-CFU数均最多。在照射前与HAPO、G-CSF孵育的骨髓细胞,HAPO组活细胞数量比对照组明显增高,而G-CSF组与对照组无明显差异。骨髓细胞被照射后培养72hr时,MTT测定显示不同剂量HAPO、G-CSF均能促进放射后骨髓细胞的增殖。骨髓细胞被照射后继续培养3周,HAPO组均有造血岛生成,细胞sca-1、CD31呈阳性,周围CD31阳性的内皮细胞增多。而PBS组则未出现造血岛,基质细胞中极少有CD31阳性细胞的内皮细胞,未发现sca-1阳性细胞。结论 体内、外实验表明,人促血液血管细胞生成素HAPO对放射损伤的Balb/c小鼠有明显的促造血重建作用,提高小鼠的生存率,促进其造血干细胞的增殖与生长。     

Increase in endogenous spleen colonies without recovery of blood cell counts in radioadaptive survival response in C57BL/6 mice

The radioadaptive survival response induced by a conditioning exposure to 0.45 Gy and measured as an increase in 30-day survival after mid-lethal X irradiation was studied in C57BL/6N mice. The acquired radioresistance appeared on day 9 after the conditioning exposure, reached a maximum on days 12-14, and disappeared on day 21. The conditioning exposure 14 days prior to the challenge exposure increased the number of endogenous spleen colonies (CFU-S) on days 12-13 after the exposure to 5 Gy. On day 12 after irradiation, the conditioning exposure also increased the number of endogenous CFU-S to about five times that seen in animals exposed to 4.25-6.75 Gy without preirradiation. The effect of the interval between the preirradiation and the challenge irradiation on the increase in endogenous CFU-S was also examined. A significant increase in endogenous CFU-S was observed when the interval was 14 days, but not 9 days. This result corresponded to the increase in survival observed on day 14 after the challenge irradiation. Radiation-inducted resistance to radiation-induced lethality in mice appears to be closely related to the marked recovery of endogenous CFU-S in the surviving hematopoietic stem cells that acquired radioresistance by preirradiation. Preirradiation enhanced the recovery of the numbers of erythrocytes, leukocytes and thrombocytes very slightly in mice exposed to a sublethal dose of 5 Gy, a dose that does not cause bone marrow death. There appears to be no correlation between the marked increase in endogenous CFU-S and the slight increase or no increase in peripheral blood cells induced by the radioadaptive response. The possible contribution by some factor, such as Il4 or Il11, that has been reported to protect irradiated animals without stimulating hematopoiesis is discussed.     

Effect of Hyperthyroidism On Haemopoietic Stem Cell Kinetics In Mice

Changes in the pool of haemopoietic colony-forming units (CFUs) of bone marrow and spleen were studied in experiments with mice fed dried thyroid gland (TH) for 21 days, and during the 13 days that followed feeding. After HU treatment, the number of CFUs in DNA synthesis was estimated. As early as the second day of TH treatment, the pool of CFUs is gradually increased, leading to an increase in the total number of splenic and bone marrow CFUs persisting after TH treatment for the period examined. Simultaneously, the numbers of nucleated cells in the bone marrow and spleen are increased. During TH feeding and following its termination, the total number of erythrocytes and the haematocrit values did not change significantly, whereas an increased number of leucocytes was observed in the peripheral blood after TH treatment. Elevation of the proliferative activity of CFUs occurred early in the period of TH treatment, with the maximum attained by end of the first week of TH feeding. This suggests a rapid response of the haemopoietic stem cell compartment to the administration of TH hormones. the participation of humoral factors controlling CFUs compartments in the mechanism of the stimulatory effect of TH hormones on haemopoietic stem cells is discussed.     

The effect of internal exposure to 90Sr on hematopoietic stem cells in CBA mice

After acute intake of 90Sr the changes of d-9 CFUs number in mice (CBA) bone marrow, spleen and peripheral blood were investigated. The obtained results indicated similar quantitative changes in bone marrow and spleen CFUs on exposure to the 90Sr when radiation doses did not cause the decrease in life-time (1.11 kBq/g). Sarcomogeneous doses of 90Sr (29.6 kBq/g) resulted in drastic changes of hemopoietic system: spleen haematopoiesis activation and suppression of bone marrow functions. On the first day after 90Sr injection (29.6 kBq/g) the increase in number of peripheral blood CFUs (circulating pool) was observed.     

Ah locus-associated differences in induction of sister-chromatid exchanges and in DNA adducts by benzo[a]pyrene in mice.

The effect of alleles of the Ah locus on the induction of sister-chromatid exchanges (SCE) was studied in C57Bl/6 and in DBA/2 mice treated twice intragastrically with benzo[a]pyrene (BP, 100 or 10 mg/kg b.w.). To measure the changes in the frequency of SCE, 2 protocols were used: in vivo in bone marrow cells after implantation of 5-bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) tablets and in vivo/in vitro in spleen lymphocytes cultured with BrdU. On day 5 mice were killed and SCEs estimated in bone marrow cells. BP-DNA adducts in bone marrow and spleen were analyzed on day 5 after the same exposure to BP. In the spleen lymphocytes SCE frequencies were analyzed after an additional 48 h of culture. We found that at both doses of BP, the number of SCEs and BP-DNA adducts in bone marrow and in spleen cells was significantly higher in aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase (AHH)-non-inducible (DBA/2) mice than in AHH-inducible (C57BL/6) mice. Only marginal induction of SCE was noted after the high dose of BP in C57BL/6 mice in bone marrow in vivo, whereas a highly significant increase in the frequency of SCEs was found in splenocytes in the in vivo/in vitro test. The spleen cells contained larger amounts of BP-DNA adducts and demonstrated higher absolute levels of SCEs than bone marrow cells. The sensitivity of both the in vivo/in vitro and the in vivo SCE test is high enough for assessment of Ah locus-linked differences in BP genotoxicity in mice at the prolonged time between treatment and cell preparation. The present data confirm the influence of inducibility of AHH in the intestine on the genotoxicity of BP to distal tissues after oral exposure to BP.     

A model of Ph' positive chronic myeloid leukemia-blast crisis cell line growth in immunodeficient SCID mice.

A human Philadelphia-chromosome positive chronic myeloid leukemia-blast crisis (CML-BC) cell line BV173 proliferated in the hematopoietic tissues, infiltrated various organs and caused the death of immunodeficient SCID mice. Leukemia spreading was assessed with diminished number of bone marrow cells and caused splenomegaly. The leukemic colonies grew from single cell suspension of bone marrow, spleen and peripheral blood. Bcr-abl m-RNA was detectable in bone marrow, spleen, peripheral blood, liver, lungs and brain. Dying mice demonstrated severely hypoplastic bone marrow, splenomegaly and massive metastases in the liver and kidneys. The survival time of animals was dependent on the number of inoculated leukemia cells.     

Comparison of stem-cell recovery in autoimmune and normal strains

The capacity of NZB stem cells to proliferate in vivo was evaluated in two systems which required repopulation of peripheral organs. In both types of depletion systems, stem-cell repopulation after cyclophosphamide treatment or adoptive transfer repopulation in lethally irradiated hosts, it was found that NZB stem cells were hyperproliferating. The increase in proliferating cells was most pronounced in the spleens of NZB mice treated with high-dose cyclophosphamide and in lethally irradiated F₁ mice reconstituted with NZB T-cell-depleted bone marrow. Thus, upon a stimulus to repopulate, NZB marrow stem cells will hyperproliferate in peripheral organs resulting in an increase in cell number. The abnormality in the marrow cells can be observed in young NZB mice when their marrow cells are in an environment which requires recovery and division.     

Dietary antioxidants protect hematopoietic cells and improve animal survival after total-body irradiation

The purpose of this study was to determine whether a dietary supplement consisting of L-selenomethionine, vitamin C, vitamin E succinate, alpha-lipoic acid and N-acetyl cysteine could improve the survival of mice after total-body irradiation. Antioxidants significantly increased the 30-day survival of mice after exposure to a potentially lethal dose of X rays when given prior to or after animal irradiation. Pretreatment of animals with antioxidants resulted in significantly higher total white blood cell and neutrophil counts in peripheral blood at 4 and 24 h after 1 Gy and 8 Gy. Antioxidants were effective in preventing peripheral lymphopenia only after low-dose irradiation. Antioxidant supplementation was also associated with increased bone marrow cell counts after irradiation. Supplementation with antioxidants was associated with increased Bcl2 and decreased Bax, caspase 9 and TGF-beta1 mRNA expression in the bone marrow after irradiation. Maintenance of the antioxidant diet was associated with improved recovery of the bone marrow after sublethal or potentially lethal irradiation. Taken together, oral supplementation with antioxidants appears to be an effective approach for radioprotection of hematopoietic cells and improvement of animal survival, and modulation of apoptosis is implicated as a mechanism for the radioprotection of the hematopoietic system by antioxidants.     

Differential recovery of polymorphonuclear neutrophils,B and T cell subpopulations in the thymus,bone marrow,spleen and blood of mice following split-dose polychemotherapy

In these studies, we examined the effect of a maximum-tolerated, split-dose chemotherapy protocol of cyclophosphamide, cisplatin, and 1,3-bis(2-chloroethyl)-1-nitrosourea carmustine on neutrophil and lymphocyte subpopulations in the peripheral blood (PBL), thymus, bone marrow and spleen. It was found that this protocol of polychemotherapy, modeled after the induction protocol used with autologous bone marrow transplantation for breast cancer, suppressed both B and T cell populations and T cell function at times when the absolute neutrophil count had returned to normal or supernormal numbers. In the peripheral blood, 7 days following initiation of chemotherapy, there was a twofold increase in the percentage of granulocytes as compared to the level in control animals on the basis of a differential count. The polymorphonuclear neutrophil (PMN) frequency in the bone marrow was increased on day 14 and statistically identical to that in control mice on all other days analyzed. In contrast to the bone marrow cells and PBL on day 7, the frequency of PMN in the spleen and thymus was depressed. B cells (B220+) were depressed in the PBL, spleen and bone marrow and took 18–32 days to return to their normal frequency, while the frequency of B cells in the thymus was increased owing to a loss of immature T cells. The percentage of CD3+ cells in the thymus, spleen and bone marrow was significantly increased and required 10–18 days to return to normal levels, while the absolute number of CD3+ cells in the blood varied around the normal value. The ratio of CD4+ to CD8+ cells in all the organs studied varied only slightly owing to a similar reconstitution of CD4+ and CD8+ cells. In contrast to the phenotypic recovery of the CD3+, CD4+ and CD8+ cells, the ability of the splenic lymphocytes to respond to concanavalin-A was depressed and remained depressed, despite the phenotypic reconstitution of the T cell subsets, on the basis of both percentage and absolute cell number. These results show a selective T and B cell depression following multi-drug, split-dose chemotherapy in tissue and blood leukocyte populations and a chronic depression in T cell function.     

Plasmodium berghei: influence on granulopoiesis and macrophage production in BALB/c mice

Granulocyte and macrophage progenitor cells forming colonies in vitro (GM-CFC) from bone marrow, spleen, and peripheral blood of BALB/c mice infected with Plasmodium berghei were cultured at various times postinfection in a viscous, 0.8% methylcellulose system. The numbers of GM-CFCs from bone marrow increased gradually during the first week of infection, reaching a maximum around the tenth day of the disease. Subsequently, a rise of GM-CFCs in cultures of nucleated cells from the peripheral blood was observed and, with some delay, in spleen cell cultures also, with a maximum around the end of the second week. After the tenth day of malaria infection a fall of colony frequency in bone marrow-derived cells took place, leading to subnormal values of GM-CFCs during the third week of infection. Subsequently, a decrease in the spleen cell cultures followed, but colony numbers did not fall to normal values. The general increase in GM-CFCs in the different organs was preceded by a rise in serum levels of colony-stimulating activity (CSA), attaining a maximum 1 week after P. berghei inoculation. During the following period the CSA levels fell and reached normal values around the seventeenth day of the disease. Chemotherapy with chloroquine started on the fifteenth day of infection, when GM-CFCs in the bone marrow have dropped to normal values, stopped their further decrease. In the spleen a gradual normalization took more than 2 weeks. A challenge infection evoked an elevation of GM-CFC numbers in the bone marrow and in the spleen during the first 10 days in only about 50% of immune mice. The reaction was immediate in some animals, but generally lower and of shorter duration than during primary infection. The results have indicated that a lethal P. berghei infection in mice caused a transient increase in production of CSA followed by a general recruitment of GM-CFCs in all hemopoietic organs.     

State of several rat hematopoietic organs following total and subtotal irradiation and after bone marrow autotransplantation]

Hemopoiesis was studied in rats after x-ray irradiation. Lethal doses of 800--820 R were applied totally, with screening the shin and with subsequent autotransplantation of bone marrow taken from noninjured hemopoietic tissue. Survival of the animals and status of hemopoietic organs (quantitative indices of the peripheral blood, bone marrow and the spleen, as well as morphological changes in hemopoietic organs) served as tests. All totally irradiated animals died by the 20th day, the 30th day in the group of screened animals 32% survived, in the group with autotransplantation of bone marrow--62%. According to the indices studied restoration of hemopoiesis proceeded more quickly and completely in the group with autotransplantation of bone marrow and somewhat slower in the group with screening the shin (but without autotransplantation); this was accompanied by repopulation of bone marrow comparing with the totally irradiated animals. Restoration of the hemopoietic organs was followed by a comparatively rapid increase in the number of myeloid cells, while the number of lymphoid cells increased more slowly.     

Capacity of hematopoietic colony-forming cells to maintain their own population in the late periods after prolonged radiation exposure

The content of multipotent CFUs in bone marrow and their self-maintenance capacity were studied for 15 months following protracted external radiation of CBA mice at the total dose 10 Gy (0.5 Gy per day). The mean life shortening was 16% in the irradiated mice. The proliferating, maturating and functional pools returned to normal within 1-3 months after exposure. The stem cell pool did not return to the values seen in the same age controls till the end of the life of experimental animals and averaged 55% of normal. The self-maintenance capacity of bone marrow CFUs was 2.5-4.5-fold as decreased in the irradiated mice. The failure of this unique property of multipotent CFUs was principally due to the foregoing increase in their proliferative activity.     

Immunoregulation in experimental disseminated histoplasmosis: flow microfluorometry (FMF) studies of the Thy and Lyt phenotypes of T lymphocytes from infected mice

Previous studies have shown that mice infected i.v. with 6 X 10(5) yeast phase Histoplasma capsulatum (Hc) develop suppressed immune responses during weeks 1 to 4 of infection but that by weeks 8 to 12 of infection these responses return to normal. In this study total and differential cell counts showed that as early as the third day of infection there was a marked reduction in the number of lymphocytes recovered from the peripheral blood, bone marrow, and thymus of infected animals. Concomitantly, there was an increase in the number of splenic lymphocytes. By day 28 both the total and differential cell counts were similar in both infected and normal animals. Flow microfluorometric (FMF) studies comparing the Thy-1.2, Lyt-1, Lyt-2, and surface immunoglobulin (slg) phenotypes of lymphocytes from normal and infected mice were performed. Between days 5 and 7 the thymocytes from infected mice displayed a higher relative fluorescence intensity (RFI) of the Thy-1.2 marker than normal thymocytes, whereas at day 10, the RFI was less than that of normal thymic lymphocytes. Between days 7 and 10 of infection the RFI of the Lyt-2 marker was less on thymocytes from Hc-infected mice; however, there was no change in the Lyt-1 marker. Examination of these lymphocyte markers in blood, spleen, and mesenteric lymph nodes showed that there were decreases in the RFI of both the Thy-1.2 and Lyt-2 between days 5 and 10 of infection. No changes were observed in the Lyt-1 or slg markers. By day 28 there were no differences between the normal and infected mice with respect to any surface marker in any of the organs studied. In other experiments, the effect of adrenalectomy before infection on these surface markers was studied. Absolute numbers of Thy-1.2+, Lyt-1+, and Lyt-2+ cells were significantly increased in the spleen and significantly decreased in the thymus and peripheral blood of infected mice relative to normal controls. These studies suggest that there is a migration of cells from the thymus, blood, and bone marrow to the spleens of mice with disseminated Hc infection.     

COMPARTMENTS AND CELL FLOWS WITHIN THE MOUSE HAEMOPOIETIC SYSTEM II. ESTIMATED RATES OF INTERCHANGE

Part-body irradiated CBA mice were injected with CBA-T6 bone marrow. In this way a predominantly donor population was established in the femora while the marrow of the humeri remained largely (average 94 %) of host origin. In animals examined cytologically up to 2 years later, no tendency was observed for the proportion of donor cells in the humeri to increase. Splenectomy had no effect on this. When femoral bone marrow from the experimental mice was injected into lethally (whole-body) irradiated recipients, cells originating from the primary host repopulated the lymph nodes to a disproportionate extent. Equilibration between the cell populations of femora and humeri occurred after re-exposure to 600 rad whole-body irradiation, but not after 100 rad or 350 rad; thus, regeneration of damaged bone marrow involved a significant contribution from extrinsic stem cells only after the highest dose of radiation. The data are compatible with an inflow of at most ten effective stem cells per humerus per day from the blood, and suggest a much lower figure. This means that few if any of the stem cells of peripheral blood enter the bone marrow and found haemopoietic clones. Evidence is adduced for the existence of a proliferating lymphoid sub-population in the bone marrow, contributing some 5–10% of the observed mitoses. The mitotic cells in the lymph nodes are replaced from marrow-derived progenitors at an estimated rate of 4–5 %/day. The relevant data for the thymus are more variable, but suggest an average figure of 8–11 %/day. Earlier data from mouse parabionts suggest a lower rate of inflow to the thymus.     

Physiology of natural killer cells. In vivo regulation of progenitors by interleukin 3

Adoptive transfer of bone marrow cells to syngeneic lethally irradiated C57BL/6 mice was used to study the maturation of natural killer (NK) cells from their progenitors. The NK progenitor cell was found to be asialomonoganglioside-negative, (aGM1-) Thy-1-, NK-1-, Ly-1-, Ly-2-, and L3T4-. The NK cells emerging from the bone marrow grafts were aGM1+, NK-1+, Thy-1+/-, Ly-1-, Ly-2-, and L3T4- and to have a target specter similar to that of NK cells isolated from the spleen of normal mice. The regulatory role of interleukin 2 (IL-2) and interleukin 3 (IL-3) for the maturation of NK cells was examined by exposure of the bone marrow cells to the lymphokines in vitro before bone marrow grafting or by treatment of bone marrow-grafted mice with lymphokines through s.c. implanted miniosmotic pumps. IL-3 antagonized the IL-2-induced maturation of NK cells in vitro and strongly inhibited the generation of NK cells after adoptive transfer of bone marrow cells in vivo. The suppressive effect of IL-3 was evident throughout the treatment period (8 or 16 days) but was apparently reversible because NK activity returned to control levels within 8 days after cessation of treatment. The inhibition of cytotoxic activity was accompanied by a reduced appearance of cells with the NK phenotypic markers aGM1 or NK-1, indicating that not only the cytotoxic activity of NK cells but also their actual formation was inhibited. Concomitantly, a moderate increase in cells expressing the T cell marker L3T4 and an increased proliferative response to the T cell mitogen concanavalin A was observed. A direct estimate of the effect of IL-3 on the frequency of NK cell progenitors was obtained by limiting dilution analysis of bone marrow cells at day 8 after bone marrow transplantation. The estimated minimal frequency of NK cell progenitors was reduced from 1/11,800 in control to 1/41,900 in IL-3-exposed mice. IL-3 may take part in the homeostasis of NK cells by the down-regulation of their progenitors.     

Autoaggressive immunocompetent cells in the bodies of mice at remote periods following irradiation]

Lethally irradiated DBA/l mice or (C57Bl X DBA/l1 F1 hybrid mice were injected with therapeutically effective doses of isologous bone marrow cells; simultaneously syngeneic lymph node cells from either intact (control) animals or mice survived after sublethal irradiation were transplanted. In control the viability of the recipients was not affected by the presence of lymphoid cells in the mixed transplant. In contrast, the beneficial action of the bone marrow cells was abolished (killing-effect) by the lymphoid cells from mice sacrificed 6 to 12 months after the irradiation (600--700 r). The manifestation of the killing-effect depended on the number of the transplanted lymphoid cells and on the dose of the bone marrow cells in the transplant. The killing-effect was not revealed when the lymphoid cells were obtained from the donors on the 30th day after irradiation. The results suggest the autosensitization of the organism at the late postirradiation periods.