Heterogeneity of in vitro colony- and cluster-forming cells in the mouse marrow: segregation by velocity sedimentation.

C57BL bone marrow cells were separated on the basis of their sedimentation velocity at unit gravity and cell fractions cultured in agar using three types of colony stimulating factor (CSF). Colony-forming cells separated as a single peak (s equal 4.4 mm/hr) in cultures stimulated by mouse lung conditioned medium (CSFMLCM) or endotoxin serum (CSFES). Cluster-forming cells were separable into two peaks and the majority were larger than colony-forming cells (s equal 5.7 mm/hr). Partial segregation of colony-forming cells was observed according to the morphological types of colonies generated, large cells tending to generate macrophage colonies and small cells, granulocytic colonies. Large colony-forming cells were more responsive to stimulation by CSF than small cells. Human urine (CSFHU) appeared unable to proliferation of most small colony-forming cells. Colony-forming cells appear to be a highly heterogeneous population with intrinsic differences in responsiveness to CSF and with differing capacities to generate colonies whose cells differentiate to granulocytes of macrophages.     

Studies on colony formation in vitro by mouse bone marrow cells. II. Action of colony stimulating factor

An analysis was made of some of the processes involved in the stimulation by colony stimulating factor (CSF) of cluster and colony formation by mouse bone marrow cells in agar cultures in vitro. Colony formation was shown to be related to the concentration and not the total amount of CSF. The concentration of CSF determined the rate of new cluster initiation in cultures and the rate of growth of individual clusters. Colony growth depleted the medium of CSF suggesting that colony cells may utilise CSF during proliferation. Bone marrow cells incubated in agar in the absence of CSF rapidly died or lost their capacity to proliferate and form clusters or colonies. CSF appears (a) to be necessary for survival of cluster-and colony-forming cells or for survival of their proliferative potential, (b) to shorten the lag period before individual cells commence proliferation and (c) to increase the growth rate of individual clusters and colonies.     

The in vitro differentiation of density sub-populations of colony-forming cells under the influence of different types of colony-stimulating factor.

The in vitro proliferation and differentiation of myeloid progenitor cells (CFU-c) in agar culture from CBA/Ca mouse bone marrow cells was studied. Density subpopulations of marrow cells were obtained by equilibrium centrifugation in continuous albumin density gradients. The formation of colonies of granulocytes and/or macrophages was studied under the influence of three types of colony-stimulating factor (CSF) from mouse lung conditioned medium CSFMLCM), post-endotoxin mouse serum (CSFES) and from human urine (CSFHu). The effect of the sulphydryl reagent mercaptoethanol on colony development was also examined. The density distribution of CFU-c was dependent on the type of CSF. Functional heterogeneity was found among CFU-c with partial discrimination between progenitor cells forming pure granulocytic colonies and those forming pure macrophage colonies. Mercaptoethanol increased colony incidence but had no apparent effect on colony morphology or the density distribution of CFU-c.     

Mononuclear macrophage (M-CFC) colony formation in semisolid media in the absence of exogenous GM-CSF

Human fetal bone marrow (FBM) cells were examined for the ability to form colonies in the absence of exogenous colony-stimulating factor (CSF) in double layer agar, methylcellulose (MC), and in agar-MC (agar underlayer, MC overlayer) culture systems. Without exogenous CSF, macrophage colonies (M-CFC) were formed in a combined culture of agar and MC. Aggregates of 5-40 cells were observed on day 7. Gradually, large compact colonies which survived for 10-12 weeks of cultivation, were formed. They were composed of mononuclear monocytes and multinucleated cells. M-CFC progenitors were nonadherent, but their progeny became adherent during differentiation within the colony. Colony formation was cell-dose-dependent. Depletion of monocytes increased the number of colonies in agar-MC cultures and stimulated the development of some macrophage colonies in MC. Survival of monocyte progenitors was not dependent on CSF. Neither was their proliferation nor partial differentiation in agar-MC cultures. CSF increased M-CFC colony efficiency, however, if it was present when cultures were initiated. Addition of CSF to M-CFC growing for 2-5 weeks in CSF-deprived medium stimulated monocytes proliferation and transformation into macrophages. Epithelioid cells, an increase in the number of giant multinucleated cells, and granulocyte multiplication were also observed. The absolute dependence of macrophage colony formation on CSF described by others might be a result of inadequate culture conditions due to agar rather than an intrinsic physiological requirement.     

The nature of 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA)-stimulated hemopoiesis, colony stimulating factor (CSF) requirement for colony formation, and the effect of TPA on [125I]CSF-1 binding to macrophages

The tumor-promoting phorbol diester, 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) was found to act both independently of and synergistically with the mononuclear phagocyte specific colony stimulating factor (CSF-1) to stimulate the formation of macrophage colonies in cultures of mouse bone marrow cells. In contrast, TPA did not synergize with other CSF subclasses that stimulate the formation of eosinophil, eosinophil-neutrophil, neutrophil, neutrophil-macrophage, and macrophage colonies, nor with either of the two factors required for megakaryocyte colony formation, megakaryocyte CSF, and megakaryocyte colony potentiator. In serum-free mouse bone marrow cell cultures TPA retained the ability to independently stimulate macrophage colony formation. However, TPA-stimulated colony formation was suboptimal and delayed in serum-free cultures that could support optimal colony formation in the presence of CSF-1. In addition, TPA did not directly compete with [125I]CSF-1 at 4 degrees C for its specific, high-affinity receptor on mouse peritoneal exudate macrophages. However, a 2-hour preincubation of the cells with TPA at 37 degrees caused almost complete loss of the receptor. Thus, TPA is able to mimic CSF-1 in its effects on CSF-1 responsive cells in some aspects (the spectrum of target cells, the morphology of resulting colonies, and the ability to down-regulate the CSF-1 receptor) but it is not able to mimic CSF-1 in other ways (TPA alone cannot stimulate the full CSF-1 response, TPA does not stimulate the most primitive CSF-1 responsive cells, and TPA does not bind to the CSF-1 receptor).     

The in vitro growth of murine high proliferative potential-colony forming cells is not enhanced by growth in a low oxygen atmosphere

The growth of primitive murine hematopoietic progenitors, high proliferative potential colony-forming cells (HPP-CFC), has been reported to be improved in low O2 tension cultures. In this report we investigated the growth of HPP-CFC stimulated by combinations of interleukin (IL)-1, IL-6, kit-ligand (KL), granulocyte (G) colony-stimulating factor (CSF), macrophage-CSF (M-CSF), granulocyte-macrophage-CSF (GM-CSF) and IL-3 in clonal cultures incubated at 7% or 21% O2 tension. Neither the numbers of HPP-CFC colonies nor the number of cells per HPP-CFC colony differed significantly between cultures grown under 7% or 21% O2 tension. The mean number of cells per HPP-CFC colony was found to range from 3.9 x 10(4) to 2.2 x 10(5). The smallest HPP-CFC colonies were stimulated by the cytokine combination IL-1 + IL-6 + KL, whereas the largest colonies were stimulated by a combination of all seven cytokines tested. The growth of erythroid colonies from murine or human bone marrow did, however, show some enhancement when cultured at a lower O2 tension. These results demonstrate that the growth of murine HPP-CFC was not compromised when cultured at ambient O2 concentration.     

Formation in agar of fibroblast-like colonies by cells from the mouse pleural cavity and other sources

Colonies of elongated fibroblast-like cells (stellate colonies) developed in agar cultures of mouse pleural cavity cells mixed with whole blood. Cultures of pleural cells alone developed only abortive clusters of round cells. The frequency of colony-forming cells in the pleural cavity was highest in neonatal mice (200/10⁵ cells) and fell progressively with aging. Stellate colony-forming cells were not in cell cycle but were radiosensitive. In adult mice, only occasional colony-forming cells were detected in peritoneal cavity, thymic, spleen, lymph node or bone marrow cell populations. Stellate colony formation was not stimulated by the granulopoietic regulator, colony stimulating factor. The active component in whole blood required for stellate colony formation was present in plasma but not serum or washed red or white cells.     

THE IN VITRO DIFFERENTIATION OF DENSITY SUB-POPULATIONS OF COLONY-FORMING CELLS UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF COLONY-STIMULATING FACTOR

The in vitro proliferation and differentiation of myeloid progenitor cells (CFU-c) in agar culture from CBA/Ca mouse bone marrow cells was studied. Density sub-populations of marrow cells were obtained by equilibrium centrifugation in continuous albumin density gradients. The formation of colonies of granulocytes and/or macrophages was studied under the influence of three types of colony-stimulating factor (CSF) from mouse lung conditioned medium CSF_MLCM), post-endotoxin mouse serum (CSF_ES) and from human urine (CSF_Hu). The effect of the sulphydryl reagent mercaptoethanol on colony development was also examined. The density distribution of CFU-c was dependent on the type of CSF. Functional heterogeneity was found among CFU-c with partial discrimination between progenitor cells forming pure granulocytic colonies and those forming pure macro-phage colonies. Mercaptoethanol increased colony incidence but had no apparent effect on colony morphology or the density distribution of CFU-c.     

Isolation of colony stimulating factor from human milk

Human milk contains colony stimulating factor (CSF), a polypeptide growth factor, which stimulates in in vitro bone marrow culture proliferation and differentiation of colony forming granulocytic macrophage progenitor cells (CFU-GM) to form colonies. This activity was not found in either bovine milk or colostrum when assayed in human or mouse bone marrow cells. The human milk CSF activity is destroyed by treatment with proteases. However, neither 6M urea, 4M guanidine hydrochloride, 5 mM dithiothreitol, nor exposure to pH 2 will inactivate the milk derived CSF. Gel filtration and isoelectric focusing indicate that human milk CSF differs biochemically from the other CSFs isolated from various sources and has a molecular weight between 250,000 and 240,000 and an isoelectric point between 4.4 and 4.9.     

Purification of a human urinary colony-stimulating factor

Colony-stimulating factor (CSF), a protein required for the in vitro formation of colonies composed of granulocytes and/or macrophages, was isolated from the urine of anemic patients by using a seven-step procedure. The purified, homogeneous CSF had a specific activity of 1.9 X 10(8) U/absorbance unit at 280 nm (AU). This represents an overall purification of 25,330-fold and a total recovery of 3.8%. Upon iodination of the protein, the radioactivity migrated on sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) gel electrophoresis as a single peak with an apparent molecular weight of 46,000; reduction with mercaptoethanol caused dissociation to a single component of molecular weight 23,000. Only the dimer is active in stimulating colony formation. Urinary CSF stimulates formation of colonies comprising only macrophages in the mouse bone marrow cell culture assay. A neutralizing antibody raised against mouse L-cell CSF did not neutralize the activity of the urinary CSF but did bind it. This may indicate that the relative positions of antibody binding sites and the active sites are different in these two glycoproteins.     

The suppressive influences of human tumor necrosis factors on bone marrow hematopoietic progenitor cells from normal donors and patients with leukemia: synergism of tumor necrosis factor and interferon-gamma

The influences of human tumor necrosis factor (TNF) (LuKII), recombinant human TNF-alpha, natural human interferon-gamma (HuIFN-gamma), recombinant HuIFN-gamma, and natural HuIFN-alpha were evaluated alone or in combination for their effects in vitro on colony formation by human bone marrow granulocyte-macrophage (CFU-GM), erythroid (BFU-E), and multipotential (CFU-GEMM) progenitor cells incubated at 5% CO2 in lowered (5%) O2 tension. TNF (LuKII) and recombinant TNF-alpha caused a similar dose-dependent inhibition of colony formation from CFU-GM, BFU-E, and CFU-GEMM. Day 7 CFU-GM colonies were more sensitive than both day 14 CFU-GM colonies and day 7 CFU-GM clusters to inhibition by TNF. BFU-E colonies and CFU-GEMM colonies were least sensitive to inhibition with TNF. The suppressive effects of TNF (LuKII) and recombinant TNF-alpha were inactivated respectively with hetero-anti-human TNF (LuKII) and monoclonal anti-recombinant human TNF-alpha. The hetero-anti-TNF (LuKII) did not inactivate the suppressive effects of TNF-alpha and the monoclonal anti-recombinant TNF-alpha did not inactivate TNF (LuKII). The suppressive effects of TNF did not appear to be mediated via endogenous T lymphocytes and/or monocytes in the bone marrow preparation, and a pulse exposure of marrow cells with TNF for 60 min resulted in maximal or near maximal inhibition when compared with cells left with TNF for the full culture incubation period. A degree of species specificity was noted in that human TNF were more active against human marrow CFU-GM colonies than against mouse marrow CFU-GM colonies. Samples of bone marrow from patients with non-remission myeloid leukemia were set up in the CFU-GM assay and formed the characteristic abnormal growth pattern of large numbers of small sized clusters. These cluster-forming cells were more sensitive to inhibition by TNF than were the CFU-GM colonies and clusters grown from the bone marrow of normal donors. The sensitivity to TNF of colony formation by CFU-GM of patients with acute myelogenous leukemia in partial or complete remission was comparable with that of normal donors. When combinations of TNF and HuIFN were evaluated together, it was noted that TNF (LuKII) or recombinant TNF synergized with natural or recombinant HuIFN-gamma, but not with HuIFN-alpha, to suppress colony formation of CFU-GM, BFU-E, and CFU-GEMM from bone marrow of normal donors at concentrations that had no suppressive effects when molecules were used alone.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)     

Serum of lipopolysacharide-treated mice contains two types of colony-stimulating factor,separable by affinity chromatography

Serum from mice traated with bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was fractionated by Con A-Sepharose affinity chromatography, and assayed in vitro for colony-stimulating factor (CSF) using mouse bone marrow cells. The CSF failing to bind to concanavalin A-Sepharose (pool A) had similar biological properties to the unfractionated serum, i.e., it stimulated the formation of about equal numbers of granulocytic, mixed granulocyte-macrophage and macrophage colonies. The fraction eluted from the Con A-Sepharose column with α-methyl-D-glucopyranoside (pool B) had a steeper dose-response curve than either the unfractionated serum or the pool A CSF and most of the colonies were composed of macrophages. A mixture of the pool A and pool B CSFs stimulated colonies in a similar way as unfractionated serum and pool A. The apparent molecular weights of the two types of CSF were determined by two different gel-filtration procedures. Sephacryl S-200 gel-filtration suggested an apparent molecular weight of 85,000 for pool A CSF and 180,000 for pool B CSF. Gel-filtration on Sepharose CL-6B in the presence of guanidine hydrochloride (6M) yielded an apparent molecular weight of approximately 23,000 for pool A CSF and 33,000 for pool B CSF. The colony-forming cells (CFC) responding to pool B CSF were found to have a relatively high sedimentation velocity (peak sedimentation velocity 5.6–6.2 mm/hr) compared to the CFC responding to mouse-lung conditioned medium (MLCM) whose peak sedimentation velocity was between 4.0–4.5 mm/hour. The CFC responding to pool A CSF had an intermediate sedimentation velocity (peak 4.6–5.2 mm/hour). A time-course analysis of the morphology of clones or colonies in cultures stimulated with either MLCM or pool B CSF showed that the proporation of different colony types depends significantly on the incubation period and suggested that pool B CSF induced an early commitment of CFC towards macrophage differentiation.     

Colony formation in agar by adult bone marrow multipotential hemopoietic cells

Erythroid colony formation in agar cultures of CBA bone marrow cells was stimulated by the addition of pokeweed mitogen-stimulated spleen conditioned medium (SCM). Optimal colony numbers were obtained when cultures contained 20% fetal calf serum and concentrated spleen conditioned medium. By 7 days of incubation, large burst or unicentric erythroid colonies occurred at a maximum frequency of 40–50 per 10⁵ bone marrow cells. In CBA mice the cells forming erythroid colonies were also present in the spleen, peripheral blood, and within individual spleen colonies. A marked strain variation was noted with CBA mice having the highest levels of erythroid colony-forming cells. In CBA mice erythroid colony-forming cells were mainly non-cycling (12.5% reduction in colony numbers after incubation with hydroxyurea or 3H-thymidine). Erythroid colony-forming cells sedimented with a peak of 4.5 mm/hr, compared with CFU-S, which sedimented at 4.25 mm/hr. The addition of erythropoietin (up to 4 units) to cultures containing SCM did not alter the number or degree of hemoglobinisation of erythroid colonies. Analysis of the total number of erythroid colony-forming cells and CFU-S in 90 individual spleen colonies gave a correlation coefficient of r = 0.93 for these two cell types. In addition to benzidine-positive erythroid cells, up to 40% of the colonies contained, in addition, varying proportions of neutrophils, macrophages, eosinophils, and megakaryocytes. Taken together with the close correlation between the numbers of CFU-S in different adult hemopoietic tissues, including individual spleen colonies, the data indicate that the erythroid colony-forming cells expressing multiple hemopoietic differentiation are members of the hemopoietic multipotential stem cell compartment.     

CFU-F circulating in cord blood

CFU-F (colony forming units-fibroblast) were studied from cord blood and, as controls, from normal bone marrow of older children and adults. Numbers of CFU-F in cord blood buffy coat cells are lower by a factor of 10 in comparison to bone marrow CFU-F. Cytomorphology and staining with monoclonal antibody identify the progeny cells of CFU-F as fibroblasts. Cord blood CFU-F derived fibroblasts have properties supporting hematopoiesis: They produce CSF (colony stimulating factor) to which fresh cord blood CFU-GM (colony forming units-granulocytic, monocytic) react by colony formation in a dose-response manner. In addition, fibroblast colonies discharge clonogenic round cells into the medium forming CFU-GM and CFU-F colonies in secondary methyl cellulose cultures. We conclude that fetal blood contains clonogenic stromal cells (CFU-F) that give rise to fibroblasts with properties of hematopoietic support.     

Sensitivity of CFU-GM from normal human bone marrow and leukaemic clonogenic cells (CFU-L) from blood of patients with myelogenous leukaemia to 3'-deoxy-3'-fluorothymidine in comparison to 3'-azido-3'-deoxythymidine

3'-Deoxy-3'-fluorothymidine (FT), a thymidine analogue highly effective against HIV 1 in vitro was investigated as to its in vitro effect on normal human bone marrow CFU-GM (agar colony assay) and on human peripheral myeloid leukaemic clonogenic cells (CFU-L, colony assay in methylcellulose). For comparison, 3'-azido-3'-deoxythymidine (AZT), structurally related and used in AIDS treatment, was included in the study. Both compounds inhibit the formation of clusters and colonies from bone marrow stem cells with an [IC]50 between 10(-6) and 10(-5)M. In concentrations only 5-10 times lower than the [IC]50, FT begins to stimulate cluster and colony formation. AZT and FT also inhibit the formation of clusters and colonies from CFU-L. Compared to CFU-GM, CFU-L were more sensitive to FT, and a stimulation was not seen. It is concluded that similar side effects on bone marrow could be expected for possible use of FT against AIDS as have been found for AZT and that both compounds are potential candidates for anti-leukaemic drugs.     

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.     

The effect of DLE fractions on GM-progenitors of haematopoietic stem cells in vitro

Dialysable leucocyte extract (DLE) prepared from buffy coats of human blood, potentiates the effect of Colony-stimulating factor (CSF) on the growth of granulocyte-macrophage colony forming cell (GM-CFC) colonies in vitro. This relative increase of the number of colonies is apparent when diluted CSF (present in lung conditioning medium) as a control, and DLE, in a wide range of concentrations are added to the culture of mouse bone marrow cells. Fractionation of DLE on Amicon membranes revealed that the activity resides in molecules of 0-5kD. Molecules 5-10kD have no potentiating effect. DLE and its fractions (0-5kD, 0-1kD), except fractions 0-500 D and 5-10kD, when added undiluted i.e. at the initial concentration, exerted a suppressive effect: colonies are not formed despite the presence of CSF. In a pilot experiment, it was shown that DLE is able to stimulate colony-forming activity of earlier progenitors of erythroid cells (BFUe), under the influence of erythropoietin.     

Nature of cells forming erythroid colonies in agar after stimulation by spleen conditioned medium

Erythroid colony formation in agar cultures of CBA cells was stimulated by the addition of pokeweed mitogen-stimulated C57BL spleen conditioned medium. Both 48-hour colonies ("48-hour benzidine-positive aggregates") and day 7 large burst or unicentric erythroid colonies ("erythroid colonies") developed, together with many neutrophil and/or macrophage colonies. In CBA mice, the cells forming erythroid colonies occurred with maximum frequency (650/10(5) cells) in 10- to 11-day-old yolk sac and fetal liver but were present also in fetal blood, spleen and bone marrow. The frequency of these cells fell sharply with increasing age and only occasional cells (2/10(5) cells) were present in adult marrow. A marked strain variation was noted, CBA mice having the highest levels of erythroid colony-forming cells. The erythroid colony-forming cells in 12-day CBA fetal liver were radiosensitive (DO 110-125 rads), mainly in cycle and were non-adherent, light density, cells sedimenting with a peak velocity of 6-9 mm/hr. These properties are similar to those of other hemopoietic progenitor cells in fetal tissues. The relationship of these apparently erythropoietin-independent erythroid colony-forming cells to those forming similar colonies after stimulation by erythropoietin remains to be determined.     

Retinoic acid enhances colony-stimulating factor-induced clonal growth of normal human myeloid progenitor cells in vitro

We studied the effect of vitamin A and its analogues (retinoids) on the clonal growth in vitro of normal human myeloid progenitor cells. Normal human bone marrow cells were cultured in soft gel in the presence of a source of colony-stimulating factor (CSF), and various retinoids, and the number of granulocyte-macrophage colonies (CFU-GM) were scored. The addition of 3 × 10^?8 to 3 × 10^?6 M retinoic acid to culture plates containing CSF markedly increased the number of myeloid colonies as compared with culture plates containing CSF alone. Maximal stimulation occurred at a concentration of 3 × 10^?7 M retinoic acid which increased the mean number of colonies by 213 ± 8 % (±S.E.) over plates containing CSF alone. Retinal or retinyl acetate was less potent than retinoic acid, and retinol (vitamin A) had no effect on colony growth. Retinoic acid had no direct CSF activity nor did it stimulate CSF production by the cultured bone marrow cells. Our studies show for the first time that retinoids can stimulate granulopoiesis in vitro and we suggest that this stimulation may be mediated by increased responsiveness of the granulocyte-macrophage progenitors to the action of CSF.