A role for the macrophage in normal hemopoiesis. II. Effect of varying physiological oxygen tensions on the release of hemopoietic growth factors from bone-marrow-derived macrophages in vitro.

The effect of oxygen tensions in the physiological range as an environmental signal on the growth of in vitro murine hemopoietic progenitor cells and the production of hemopoietic growth factors (HGF) from macrophages was investigated. Early (BFU-E) and late (CFU-E) erythroid and granulocyte-macrophage (GM-CFC) progenitor cells were cultured in an atmosphere containing 2%, 3.5%, or 5% oxygen. For both the BFU-E and CFU-E populations, a gas phase containing 3.5% oxygen proved to be optimal, producing greater colony numbers than cultures incubated under 2% or 5% oxygen-tension conditions. For GM-CFC growth, 2% and 3.5% oxygen resulted in a greater stimulation than 5% oxygen. Macrophages derived from unseparated and unstimulated mouse bone marrow cells were cultured on hydrophobic Teflon foils under varying oxygen-tension conditions. The production of erythropoietin (epo), present in the culture supernatants, increased as the oxygen concentration increased from 2% to 3.5%, but then decreased as the oxygen concentration was increased further, from 3.5% to 5%. The presence of a factor demonstrating functional similarity with Interleukin-3 was produced optimally under 5% oxygen-tension conditions. The production of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) was not significantly affected by changing the oxygen-tension conditions. These results demonstrate that physiological oxygen tension plays an important role not only in the growth of hemopoietic progenitor cells, but also as a physiochemical signal that macrophages can sense and respond to in order to regulate the production of specific secretory products.