Effects of bacterial lipopolysaccharide on the production of colony-stimulating activity in C3H/HeJ mouse long-term bone marrow cultures

Stimulatory effects of neopterin on hematopoiesis in vitro are mediated by activation of stromal cell function

The pteridine neopterin (NP) was shown to be produced by monocytes and is known to be a useful marker of immunological activation, although, its biological activity is still unclear. Recently, we found that intravenous administration of NP increased the numbers of blood leukocytes, and granulocyte-macrophage progenitor cells (CFU-GM) in the bone marrow and spleens of mice. In order to elucidate the mechanism whereby NP stimulates hematopoiesis, the effects of NP on hematopoietic stem cell proliferation and differentiation in vitro were studied using a long-term bone marrow culture (LTMC) system with cloned stromal cell line, MS-5. Adding NP to the LTMC increased the numbers of cells in total, CFU-GM and colony-forming unit in spleen (CFU-S). NP also increased the number of CFU-GM in a soft agar culture system, but it did not enhance CFU-GM colony formation when target bone marrow cells were semi-purified (T, B and adherent cell-depleted bone marrow cells) and cultured in this system, suggesting that NP did not directly affect the proliferation of hematopoietic progenitors. Conditioned medium obtained from NP-treated stromal cells had much greater colony-stimulating activity than that obtained from untreated stromal cells. Furthermore, NP treatment stimulated the production of IL-6 and GM-CSF by stromal cells. All these findings suggest that NP stimulates hematopoietic cell proliferation and differentiation in vitro by activating stromal cell function.

Presence of an activity indispensable for the granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating activity of interleukin 3 in bovine serum albumin

Media conditioned by an interleukin 3 (IL-3)-producing T-cell line, STIL-3, as well as recombinant mouse IL-3 showed granulocyte/macrophage (GM) colony-stimulating activity in the semi-solid culture medium containing horse serum (HS) or bovine serum, but the activity was not apparent when fetal calf serum (FCS) was used. No such serum-dependency of GM colony formation was observed when abdominal wall conditioned medium or L-cell conditioned medium containing GM colony-stimulating factor was used. Although the levels of albumin and total protein were lower in FCS than HS, increase of FCS concentration did not affect the GM colony-stimulating activity of IL-3. Addition of bovine serum albumin (BSA) preparation to FCS, however, increased the number of GM colonies to the same level as that observed with HS. The levels of bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in sera and BSA and the effect on the bone marrow cells from LPS-nonresponsive C3H/HeJ mice indicated that the observed effect of BSA was not due to the contaminating LPS. The activity of BSA was not substituted by IL-1, IL-2, IL-4, IFN-gamma, TNF, NGF or erythropoietin. The present study suggests the presence in BSA of co-factor(s) of IL-3 in stimulating GM colony formation.

Maintenance of granulopoiesis in long-term bone marrow cultures from W/Wv mice and effects of lipopolysaccharide on granulopoiesis in culture

An attempt was made to establish long-term cultures of marrow cells from genetically anaemic W/Wv mice. Two batches of horse sera were used. One batch of horse serum (HS-lot A) supported long-term maintenance (up to 20 weeks) of granulopoiesis in vitro. The number of suspension cells in W/Wv marrow culture was maintained at the same level as that in the control +/+ culture, but the number of granulocyte-macrophage progenitor cells (GM-CFC) and the ratio of immature to mature granulocytes were at a lower level than those in +/+ culture. These data suggest that haemopoietic progenitors in W/Wv cultures maintain a higher level of differentiation, and hence an increased self-renewal than those in +/+ cultures. Another batch of horse serum (HS-lot B) was less effective in the maintenance of the cultures, and the cultures deteriorated within 10 weeks. Addition of bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induced increased granulopoiesis in +/+ cultures, whereas such treatment resulted in the depletion of suspension cells in W/Wv cultures. The results suggest that haemopoietic cells of W/Wv mouse cannot cope with the strong stimulus for differentiation that occurs after the administration of LPS, although the cells can continue a moderately increased self-renewal and differentiation, as indicated by the results in the culture with HS-lot A.