[Effects of hypoxia on the proliferation and differentiation of CD34(+) hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells and their response to cytokines].

To elucidate the effects of hypoxia on the proliferation and differentiation of CD34(+) hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells and their response to cytokines, the cells were isolated from umbilical cord blood by using a high-gradient magnetic cell sorting system (MACS). Mononuclear cells (MNC) and CD34(+) cells were incubated in severe hypoxia (1% oxygen) culture system, and the colony forming cells and antigen expression were studied by colony forming assays and FACS analysis. The results showed that incubation in severe hypoxia increased the number of erythroid bursts (BFU-E) (324.8+/-41.4/10(4) cells) generated from CD34(+) cells (191.2+/-34.5/10(4) cells in the control group, P<0.01). Severe hypoxia also enhanced the maintenance and cloning efficiency of BFU-E in a liquid culture system without growth factors, the number of BFU-E (152.4+/-22.6/10(4)cells) was much bigger than that in the control group (74.2+/-9.3/10(4) cells, P<0.01). In cultures incubated in hypoxia, the percentage of CD34(+) cells was significantly higher (2.5+/-1.2-fold, P<0.05) than in those incubated in air. BFU-E cloning efficiency of MNC was not significantly affected by hypoxia. The above results show that hypoxia enhances the maintenance of erythroid progenitor cells generated from CD34(+) hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells, no matter growth factors are present or not. These positive effects of hypoxia did not occur for the other progenitors.