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Research Article Free access | 10.1172/JCI109682
Host Resistance Programme, Department of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, L8S 4J9
Host Resistance Programme, Department of Pathology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, L8S 4J9
Find articles by Denburg, J. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
Host Resistance Programme, Department of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, L8S 4J9
Host Resistance Programme, Department of Pathology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, L8S 4J9
Find articles by Davison, M. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
Host Resistance Programme, Department of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, L8S 4J9
Host Resistance Programme, Department of Pathology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, L8S 4J9
Find articles by Bienenstock, J. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar
Published February 1, 1980 - More info
Factors influencing basophil production from the bone marrow of ovalbumin (OA)-sensitized guinea pigs have been examined in vitro. Autologous co-cultures of marrow and spleen cells from OA-immune animals contained significantly higher numbers of basophils after 7 d of liquid culture in the presence of OA, compared with control co-cultures or with marrow cultures alone (P < 0.005).
Basophils increased in co-culture as the number of spleen cells added to a fixed number of marrow cells was increased from 0.10 to 2.5 × 106/ml; at each spleen cell concentration, the presence of OA significantly enhanced basophil production in vitro when compared with unstimulated co-cultures. There was no basophil production from spleen cell suspensions cultured in the absence of autologous marrow cells. Conditioned media (CM) prepared from OA-stimulated spleen cells of OA-treated animals (CM-OA) caused a specific stimulation of basophil production from normal guinea pig bone marrow cells in liquid cultures (P < 0.01). Phytohemagglutinin (PHA)- and pokeweed mitogen-stimulated CM (CM-PHA, CM-pokeweed mitogen) nonspecifically enhanced normal basophilopoiesis, causing dose-dependent increases in basophils and histamine in vitro. CM-OA and CM-PHA also preferentially stimulated formation of neutrophil-macrophage colony-forming units in semisolid methylcellulose cultures.
CM-PHA prepared from T cell-enriched splenic cell suspensions contained basophil-stimulating activity, whereas T cell-depleted CM-PHA activity did not exceed control values (P < 0.01). Preliminary characterization of CM-PHA revealed that basophil-stimulating activity was predominantly heat stable and nondialyzable.
These results demonstrate OA-specific, as well as mitogen-dependent T-cell regulation of guinea pig basophilopoiesis in vitro. The data are compatible with the existence of a specific “basophilopoietin” in CM derived from guinea pig splenic T cells.