The detection of in vitro monocyte-macrophage colony-forming cells in mouse thymus and lymph nodes.

In vitro monocyte-macrophage colony-forming cells (CFC) have been detected in the thymus (30/10(6) cells) and in the cervical (22/10(6)) and mesenteric (20/10(6)) lymph nodes (LN) of the mouse. Thymus and LN derived CFC differed from bone marrow derived CFU-c in several characteristics parameters: (1) sole specificity of PMUE to induce colony formation (CF), (2) apparent singular line of monocyte-macrophage differentiation, (3) a marked 6- to 10-day lag period prior to initiation of CF, and (4) significantly slower rates of appearance of colonies in culture after initiation of CF. Two of these parameters are shared with those CFC detected within alveolar space, peritoneal exudate and pleural effusion. These are the delay prior to CF and the singular monocyte-macrophage differentiation. These similarities suggested that T-CFC and LN-CFC are probably of similar origin and represent, as suggested by Lin and Stewart ('74), a population of progenitor cells exclusively for monocyte-macrophages.