Monocyte-to-macrophage transition in vitro. A systematic study using human cells isolated by fractionation on Percoll.

Improved density-gradient methods, using Percoll or Nycodenz, have recently been introduced for the isolation of human monocytes, but the capacity of cells thus isolated to differentiate into macrophages has not been systematically studied. We have compared Percoll and Nycodenz methods for the isolation of monocytes from human blood. The Nycodenz method yielded a monocyte population of high purity, but the yield was low. The Percoll method gave almost quantitative yield of monocytes, and the contaminating cells, mostly lymphocytes, were readily washed away after allowing the monocytes to adhere to a plastic surface. The Percoll method was then successfully scaled up, providing a simple method to obtain the monocytes from 180 ml blood. These monocytes were maintained in culture and their capacity to mature into macrophages was studied, using the following criteria: increase in cell size and protein content, increase in specific activity of hexosaminidase, differential hexosaminidase release on exposure to opsonized zymosan and unopsonized polystyrene beads, loss of peroxidase activity, and development of fluoride-insensitivity by the cells' cytochemically demonstrable esterase. The cells also displayed morphological changes typical of the monocyte-to-macrophage transition. The procedures reported constitute a simple and reliable method for the production of human macrophages in increased yield.