The regulation of haemopoiesis in long-term bone marrow cultures: I. Role of L-cell CSF

The effects of L-cell conditioned medium which contains granulocyte/macrophage colony stimulating factor (CSF); of highly purified L-cell CSF; and the antiserum directed against L-cell CSF, have been investigated in long-term murine bone marrow cultures. Treatment of cultures with CSF containing conditioned medium led to a rapid decline in haemopoiesis. However, this inhibition of in vitro haemopoiesis is probably caused by materials other than CSF, since the addition of highly purified L-cell CSF had no appreciable effect upon long-term haemopoietic cell proliferation or differentiation. Furthermore, the inhibitory activity of L-cell conditioned medium was not abrogated following neutralization of the CSF activity by CSF antiserum. The direct addition of CSF antiserum did not inhibit granulocyte or macrophage formation. These results suggest that long-term cultures of murine marrow cells may show extensive interactions with stromal cells which are not influenced by exogenous stimulatory or inhibitory factors.     

Stimulation of uptake of tritiated thymidine into mouse marrow cells in culture by a factor from L-cell conditioned medium

Uptake of ³H-thymidine into suspension cultures of mouse marrow cells was stimulated by the addition of serum-free conditioned medium harvested from cultures of mouse L-cells. Characterization of the “conditioning factor activity” (CFA) by gel filtration, ion exchange chromatography, velocity sedimentation, polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and susceptibility to trypsin digestion indicated that the CFA detected by stimulation of ³H-thymidine uptake is the same as the CFA detected previously by its ability to stimulate colony formation by marrow cells in vitro. The ³H-thymidine uptake assay was used to investigate the kinetics of disappearance of CFA as a function of time in the presence of mouse marrow cells. The CFA recoverable from the cultures decreased rapidly during the first day, and approached background levels by the fifth day. There was no evidence of inhibitory substances in the depleted media. Even if the cultures continued to receive fresh conditioned medium at daily intervals, ³H-thymidine uptake decreased sharply after the fifth day, indicating that the marrow cells had lost their capacity to respond to CFA.     

Treatment of mouse L-cells with phorbol myristate acetate induces the secretion of a plasminogen activator inhibitor which binds to human and mouse urokinase and human tissue plasminogen activator

1. Serum-free conditioned medium from L-cells or L-cells treated with the tumor-promotor phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) was analyzed for plasminogen activator (PA) and plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI) activity. Conditioned medium from control or PMA-treated cells did not contain detectable PA activity when assayed by SDS-PAGE and zymography. 2. Conditioned medium from PMA-treated cells, but not control cells, contained a PAI of Mr = 40,000 da when assayed by reverse zymography. 3. The L-cell PAI formed SDS-stable complexes with purified human (homo sapiens) urokinase and tissue plasminogen activator, as well as, mouse (Mus musculus) urinary PA. 4. These results indicate that biochemical and immunological differences between human and mouse urokinase and human urokinase and human tissue plasminogen activator do not influence the interaction of the L-cell PAI with these enzymes.     

Factors regulating the metabolism of low-density lipoprotein-proteoglycan complex in macrophages

We studied the factors regulating the metabolism of low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-proteoglycan complex, LDL and acetyl-LDL in mouse peritoneal macrophages. Macrophage conditioned medium stimulated the degradation of LDL-proteoglycan complex and acetyl-LDL in a dose-dependent manner and enhanced cholesteryl ester synthesis mediated by these ligands. The conditioned medium had no such effect in a cell-free system. The conditioned medium enhanced the degradation of both the LDL and proteoglycan components of the complex. The degradation of LDL was not affected by the conditioned medium. The active factor in the conditioned medium was labile to boiling, suggesting that it may be protein in nature. The conditioned medium also lost its stimulatory activity after dialysis through a membrane with an exclusion limit of 25,000 daltons, suggesting the involvement of cytokines and/or other growth factors. Macrophage activation was accompanied by a 2-3-fold increase in the degradation of LDL-proteoglycan complex and acetyl-LDL as compared to the degradation of these ligands in resident macrophages; however, this had no effect on LDL degradation. The degradation of all three ligands increased markedly with decreasing cell density. Preincubation of macrophages for 48 h with increasing concentrations of fetal bovine serum produced a substantial increase in the subsequent degradation of LDL-proteoglycan complex and acetyl-LDL, while it had very little effect on the degradation of LDL. The active factor in serum was destroyed by boiling, suggesting that it may be a protein. These results show that the scavenger receptor, mediating the uptake and degradation of LDL-proteoglycan complex and acetyl-LDL and LDL receptor are regulated differently in mouse peritoneal macrophages.     

Characterization of a neuronal growth factor from mouse heart-cell-conditioned medium

A fraction of medium conditioned by embryonic mouse heart cells in culture promotes the growth of sympathetic and parasympathetic neurons in vitro. The factor stimulates neurite outgrowth, elevates specific activities of tyrosine hydroxylase and choline acetyltransferase in sympathetic ganglion explants, and enhances survival of dissociated sympathetic neurons in culture. The growth-promoting activity, which has a profound effect on survival of mouse sympathetic and parasympathetic neurons but little effect on mouse sensory neuron survival, is sensitive to trypsin and elevated temperature, suggesting association with a polypeptide or protein. Unlike nerve growth factor (NGF), the conditioned medium fraction is insensitive to anti-NGF antiserum, and fosters growth of mouse parasympathetic neurons. Consequently, the conditioned medium appears to contain a new nerve growth-promoting factor.     

An autocrine factor from Reuber hepatoma cells that stimulates DNA synthesis and acetyl-CoA carboxylase. Characterization of biologic activity and evidence for a glycan structure

Conditioned medium from Reuber H-35 or Fao hepatoma cells contains autocrine factors that both stimulate DNA synthesis and activate acetyl-coenzyme A (CoA) carboxylase in serum-deprived Fao cells. The factor(s), which appears within 4 h of serum-free culture, also increases the cell number and the mitotic index. The effects of the conditioned medium are insulinomimetic, both with respect to stimulation of DNA synthesis and acetyl-CoA carboxylase activity. However, no induction of tyrosine aminotransferase activity or stimulation of aminoisobutyric acid uptake is seen in response to the conditioned medium. Insulin over a 4-h period does not increase the concentration of DNA synthesis stimulating activity that is observed in the medium. This activity is dialyzable and is resistant to acid treatment or to heating to 60-100 degrees C and to trypsin digestion; it is not extracted with chloroform/methanol nor adsorbed by charcoal or by a C18 reverse-phase column. Fractionation of the conditioned medium derived from Reuber H-35 hepatoma cells by gel filtration chromatography reveals two low molecular weight (less than 1000) compounds that both stimulate DNA synthesis in Fao hepatoma cells. The larger compound (peak I) also stimulates the activity of acetyl-CoA carboxylase. The stimulatory effects of the peak I compound are destroyed by nitrous acid deamination, periodate oxidation, and methanolysis. Biosynthetic labeling studies indicate the probable presence of glucosamine, galactose, and perhaps phosphate in the peak I-activating material. No significant incorporation of either myoinositol or mannose into the active material has been observed. These data, taken together, are consistent with a glycan structure for this autocrine factor, which bears strong resemblance to similar insulinomimetic factors generated in BC3H1 myocytes and H-35 hepatoma cells in response to insulin and on digestion of membranes with a phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C. Further characterization of this factor may provide insight into different pathways of insulin action and could provide a strategy to check autocrine-stimulated tumor growth.     

A factor synthesized by rabbit periosteal fibroblasts stimulates bone resorption and collagenase production by connective tissue cells in vitro

Unstimulated monolayer cultures of confluent rabbit periosteal fibroblasts synthesize a factor that stimulates bone resorption in vitro. Furthermore it stimulates rabbit chondrocytes and mouse osteoblasts to synthesize collagenase. The factor has no effect on dead bone in culture, and its activity on live bone is mediated principally by osteoclasts, since it is 75% inhibited by salmon calcitonin. Characterization of the factor by gel filtration and isoelectric focusing indicates an Mr in the range 15000-25000 and a pI corresponding to approx. pH 4.7. These biological and physiochemical properties are similar to those reported for a factor released by peripheral blood monocytes. However, whereas human monocyte factor in both the crude and partially-purified state exhibits interleukin-1 activity, crude and fractionated periosteal fibroblast-conditioned medium does not. This is the first report of a conditioned medium containing a molecule like the monocyte-factor which appears to have no interleukin 1 activity. The factor may be synthesized by a wide range of cell types, and could have an important role in mediating connective tissue degradation during both physiological and pathological resorption.     

Preparation and neutralization characteristics of an anti-CSF antibody

Nine of ten rabbits immunized with a partially purified L-cell CSF had demonstrable titers of anti-CSF activity. In vitro the antibody was markedly inhibitory to both post-endotoxin mouse sera and several mouse tissue extracts. CSF containing conditioned media prepared from a number of sources showed variable inhibition suggesting that murine CSF's may be characterized by marked antigenic differences. Human sources of CSF were also inhibited thus indicating a degree of cross-reactivity between murine and human factors. These studies may provide the initial steps toward definition of the role of CSF in vivo.     

Potentiating effect of heparin in the activation of procollagenase by a low-Mr angiogenesis factor

A low-Mr freely dialysable endothelial cell-stimulating angiogenesis factor (ESAF) from conditioned medium of a mouse lymphoma cell line has previously been shown to activate latent skin fibroblast procollagenase. Activation comparable with the maximum that can be achieved with trypsin is obtained with chemically undetectable amounts of the factor. We now show that when even smaller amounts of ESAF are used heparin is able to potentiate its action in this system. The relationship between this activity and the mechanism of angiogenesis, which is itself potentiated by heparin, is discussed.     

Neurite outgrowth induced by the substrate associated material from nonneuronal cells

Cultured embryonic heart cells release a powerful inducer of neurite outgrowth into the surrounding medium. The present report demonstrates that these cells also deposit material which induces neurite outgrowth directly onto their culture substratum. Thus, embryonic heart cells condition both the culture medium and the culture substratum with respect to neurite outgrowth. Conditioned substrata were prepared by incubating heart cell monolayers in EDTA until the cells released from the substratum and were discarded. When dissociated neurons from ciliary or sympathetic chain ganglia were plated in fresh medium onto a conditioned substratum, neurite outgrowth was initiated in 80–95% of the neurons within 60 min. The neurite-inducing activity is trypsin sensitive, but is not inactivated by antibodies to the cell attachment protein fibronectin, by the membrane-solubilizing detergent Triton X-100, or by the enzymes collagenase, RNase, or DNase. The factor in conditioned medium which also induces neurite outgrowth depends for its activity on attachment to an artificial polyornithine substratum, under which condition it appears to promote adhesion of neuronal filopodia to the substratum. Thus, neurite outgrowth in these two culture systems occurs only if the substratum is conditioned by the appropriate extracellular materials: conditioned either directly by the deposition of heart cell products or indirectly by the binding of a conditioned medium factor to the polyornithine substratum. These substratum-conditioning factors may be related to those components of the extracellular matrix which support neurite outgrowth in vivo.     

Purification and properties of a megakaryocyte stimulatory factor present both in the serum-free conditioned medium of human embryonic kidney cells and in thrombocytopenic plasma

Megakaryocyte stimulatory factor (MSF) has been purified to homogeneity (7.5 X 10(5)-fold) from serum-free conditioned medium obtained from cultured human embryonic kidney cells and to near homogeneity (1.44 X 10(7)-fold) from thrombocytopenic rabbit plasma. MSF activity from either source was assayed by its ability to enhance the rate of synthesis of platelet factor 4-like proteins in a rat promegakaryoblast cell line. The 125I-labeled factor prepared from human embryonic kidney cell conditioned medium is homogeneous as judged by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and isoelectric focusing in the presence of 9.2 M urea. MSF obtained from the above source is an acidic protein (pI = 5.1) with an Mr = 15,000 which stimulates platelet factor 4-like protein synthesis in rat promegakaryoblast cells by as much as 7-fold, and exhibits half-maximal activity at a concentration of 0.8 pM. MSF was also purified from thrombocytopenic rabbit plasma by a nearly identical isolation procedure, and 125I-labeled factor prepared from this source also possessed an Mr = 15,000. MSF exhibited no biologic activity corresponding to other known hemopoietic growth factors, and appears to be specific for the megakaryocyte lineage.     

Purification and biologic properties of fibroblast somatomedin

Cultured human fibroblasts produce a peptide growth factor that cross-reacts with antisera to human somatomedin-C (Sm-C). To determine the identity of this species and compare its molecular properties to pure Sm-C, 2 liters of conditioned medium derived from human fibroblast monolayers were concentrated (X10) by ultrafiltration. The concentrated conditioned medium was purified further by CM-Sephadex ion-exchange chromatography. Following elution in 1.0 M NaCl, pH 8.0, the active material was purified by gel filtration on Sephadex G-150. The active fractions which eluted at Kd 0.45 (Mr estimated at 32,000) were further purified by isoelectric focusing. Two peaks of activity electrofocused at pI 5.4 and 7.2, respectively. The pI 5.4 peak contained only binding protein activity. The active fractions from the neutral pool were further purified by reverse-phase high pressure liquid chromatography on a C-18 Bondapak with a linear gradient of acetonitrile (10-60%). The active single peak which eluted at 55% acetonitrile gave a single band when analyzed by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. This material stimulated [3H]thymidine incorporation into human fibroblast DNA with approximately 3.2 times the potency of pure Sm-C but was equipotent in stimulating BALB/c 3T3 fibroblasts. It was degraded by fibroblast cultures at a slower rate compared to Sm-C, although it had a similar affinity for Sm-C-binding protein. We conclude that human fibroblasts produce two peptides that react with anti-Sm-C antibody but are chemically distinct from Sm-C. The greater response to fibroblast somatomedin may be due to its affinity for somatomedin-binding protein and slower degradation. These findings may have implications for understanding the regulation of human fibroblast replication.     

Stimulation of embryonic mouse limb bud mesenchymal cell growth by peptide growth factors

The possible role of peptide growth factors in mammalian intrauterine cell growth has been investigated using primary cultures of undifferentiated mesenchymal cells from 11-day mouse embryo limb buds. When grown as monolayer cultures, proliferation is greatly favored by high cell densities. In medium containing 0.2% serum, purified epidermal growth factor (EGF), fibroblast growth factor (FGF), multiplication stimulating activity (MSA), insulin, and somatomedin-C (Sm-C) do not increase cell growth, but a 30-40,000 molecular weight component of mouse fetal liver conditioned medium is stimulatory. On the other hand, when limb bud cells are grown as high density or micromass cultures, a method which better approximates in vivo growth conditions, all of the purified growth factors tested stimulate cell growth significantly. These growth factors have additive effects when used in combination, the best stimulation being observed with liver medium (10% v/v), EGF (10 ng/ml), FGF (200 ng/ml), and either insulin (1 microgram/ml) or Sm-C (20 ng/ml). We conclude that the response of limb bud cells to growth stimulation is influenced by the manner in which the cells are cultured and that at least four different growth factors are required for optimal in vitro proliferation. One of these, the active component of liver medium, appears to be a previously uncharacterized growth factor.     

Normal mouse lung tissue produces a growth-inhibitory factor(s) preferential for mouse monocytic leukemia cells

Summary A growth-inhibitory (GI) factor, that specifically inhibits the growth of mouse monocytic leukemia cells, was found in conditioned medium of mouse lung tissue, but not in that of mouse brain, heart, liver, or kidney tissue. Conditioned medium of spleen or bone marrow cells had low GI activity. Pulmonary macrophages were as active as peritoneal and bone-marrow-derived macrophages in production of the GI activity. The GI factor inhibited the growth of murine monocytic leukemia cell lines Mm-A and J774.1, but scarcely inhibited the growth of other mouse cell lines, such as a myeloblastic leukemia cell line (M1), a Friend erythroleukemia cell line (745A) and a mammary carcinoma cell line (FM3A). It had no significant effect on the growth of human monocytic leukemia cell lines U937 and THP-1 or on the HL-60 promyelocytic leukemia cell line. These results suggest that the GI factor produced by mouse lung tissue preferentially inhibits the growth of mouse monocytic cells.The GI factor was found to be a proteinaceous substance with a molecular mass of 25 kDa. On chromatofocusing, the GI activity was eluted with Polybuffer 96/acetic acid at pH 7.2–7.5. The GI activity was not significantly decreased by heat treatment at 56°C for 30 min or acid treatment (0.01 M HCl, 14 h), but the GI activity in glycosidase-treated conditioned medium of lung tissue was lost on heat treatment. The GI activity could not be neutralized with anti-(interferon + ) antibody. The activity was produced constitutively by lung tissues and its production was not stimulated appreciably by lipopolysaccharide, lectin, or poly(I)·poly(C). The GI factor appears to be a cytokine unrelated to known cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor, interleukin-1, transforming growth factor , and interferons. These results suggest that the GI factor may be involved in negative feedback regulation of macrophage production in steady-state conditions in the lungs.This work was supported in part by a grant for Cancer Research from the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture, and a grant from the Ministry of Health and Welfare for a Comprehensive 10-Year Strategy for Cancer Control     

Purification of a colony-stimulating factor from cultured pancreatic carcinoma cells.

Serum-free conditioned medium prepared from an established line of human pancreatic carcinoma (MIA PaCa-2) provides a rich source of colony-stimulating factor (CSF). Two activities distinctly separable by isoelectrofocusing have been identified: a high molecular weight CSF exhibiting greater activity in mouse bone marrow and a low molecular weight CSF more active in human bone marrow. The high molecular weight CSF has been purified 1000-fold to apparent homogeneity by a two-step procedure including isoelectrofocusing and gel filtration chromatography. The purified CSF has a molecular weight of 50,000 and an isoelectric point of 3.7 to 4.6. It is a glycoprotein as shown by periodic acid-Schiff stain and exhibits greater activity in mouse marrow than in human marrow.     

A factor synthesized by rabbit periosteal fibroblasts stimulates bone resorption and collagenase production by connective tissue cells in vitro

Unstimulated monolayer cultures of confluent rabbit periosteal fibroblasts synthesize a factor that stimulates bone resorption in vitro. Furthermore it stimulates rabbit chondrocytes and mouse osteoblasts to synthesize collagenase. The factor has no effect on dead bone in culture, and its activity on live bone is mediated principally by osteoclasts, since it is 75% inhibited by salmon calcitonin. Characterization of the factor by gel filtration and isoelectric focusing indicates an M_r in the range 15 000–25 000 and a pI corresponding to approx. pH 4.7. These biological and physicochemical properties are similar to those reported for a factor released by peripheral blood monocytes. However, whereas human monocyte factor in both the crude and partially-purified state exhibits interleukin-1 activity, crude and fractionated periosteal fibroblast-conditioned medium does not. This is the first report of a conditioned medium containing a molecule like the monocyte-factor which appears to have no interleukin 1 activity. The factor may be synthesized by a wide range of cell types, and could have an important role in mediating connective tissue degradation during both physiological and pathological resorption.     

Characterization of erythropoietin-like activity from mouse spleen cells

Supernatants from mouse spleen cell cultures contain a factor which acts in a similar manner to erythropoietin (Ep) to stimulate the formation of 2-day erythroid (CFU-E) colonies in vitro from bone marrow or fetal liver cells. Analysis of conditioned media by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) on anion exchange, reverse phase, molecular size exclusion, and hydroxyapatite columns demonstrated that the erythropoietin-like activity (EpLA) has different biochemical characteristics to mouse Ep from anemic mouse serum. In addition, EpLA has a molecular weight (Mr), of 20,000 daltons determined by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), compared to 42,000 for mouse Ep. Partially purified EpLA was found to be active in vivo as well as in vitro. Highly purified preparations of gamma-interferon, Multilineage hemopoietic growth factor (Multi HGF), Interleukin-2 (IL-2), IL-1, and colony stimulating factor 1 (CSF-1) did not support CFU-E colony formation. Thus, it was established that EpLA could not be attributed to other known components of spleen cell conditioned medium. Titration of mouse Ep and EpLA suggests that only a portion of the Ep-responsive CFU-E population in fetal liver is sensitive to EpLA.     

The in vitro maintenance of the limb-bud apical ridge by cell-free preparations

A factor(s) that has properties similar to previously described limb-bud polarizing activity and ectodermal ridge maintenance activity can be detected in cell-free preparations of posterior, but not anterior, halves of 4-day chick embryo limb buds. The apparent size of the factor differs depending upon the method of isolation. Homogenization in isotonic saline results in a particulate active component, whereas homogenization in hypertonic saline results in a soluble active component that is nondialyzable. When culture medium is conditioned by incubating several pieces of polarizing tissue in it for 24 hr, a dialyzable, active component is found in the conditioned medium.     

Specificity and partial purification of a factor in spent media from Sertoli cell-enriched cultures that stimulates steroidogenesis in Leydig cells

There is increasing evidence that factors derived from the seminiferous tubules influence Leydig cell function in a paracrine way. In previous experiments we demonstrated that conditioned media from Sertoli cell-enriched cultures contain a protein with stimulatory activity on prepubertal rat Leydig cells. In this paper we further studied the specificity of this factor. In addition we describe a simple but efficient partial purification procedure. It is demonstrated that Sertoli cell conditioned media contain a factor that stimulates the testosterone output from prepubertal and adult Leydig cells. The effects are evident within the first hour of incubation and can be observed in the presence as well as in the absence of LH. Peritubular cells do not produce a similar factor but enhance the production of the Leydig cell stimulating factor when cocultured with Sertoli cells. The Sertoli cell factor acts on rat as well as on mouse Leydig cells. It barely influences the adrenostenedione output of ovarian stromal cells or the corticosterone output of adrenal cells. The production of this factor is enhanced by dbcAMP, FSH, L-isoproterenol and glucagon but is not affected by androgens. The characteristics of the Sertoli cell factor have been compared with those of a Leydig cell stimulating factor in the medium from an established rabbit kidney cell line: RK13. It is shown that the active principle in RK13 conditioned medium is also a thermolabile trypsin-sensitive protein with a mol. wt of more than 10,000. Nonetheless, the RK13 and Sertoli cell derived factors act by different mechanisms since at maximally effective concentrations their effects are additive. Finally it is demonstrated that molecular weight fractionation of Sertoli cell conditioned medium using an Amicon ultrafiltration system results in a 50- to 130-fold increase in Sertoli cell factor activity in a fraction corresponding to a mol. wt of 10,000 up to 30,000.     

Peritoneal exudate cells. I. Growth requirement of cells capable of forming colonies in soft agar

Mouse peritoneal exudate cells induced by thioglycollate medium can form colonies in soft agar with a plating efficiency of about 5% (0.6%–10%). Cells from an unstimulated peritoneal cavity form no colonies or have a plating efficiency of less than 0.001 %. These colony-forming cells from the peritoneal exudate are similar to bone marrow colony-forming cells in vitro in that they both require a substance(s) present in conditioned medium from L-cells or mouse embryo fibroblasts or the serum from endotoxin-treated mice for the initiation and the continuation of their growth. However, peritoneal exudate colony-forming cells have a much longer initial lag period (10–14 days) and can survive longer in the absence of L-cell conditioned medium than bone marrow colony-forming cells. Only mononuclear cells, presumably macrophages, are observed in peritoneal exudate colonies, whereas bone marrow cell colonies contain both polymorphonuclear cells and macrophages.