Mouse bone marrow-cultured macrophage as indicator cells for mouse and human migration inhibitory factor (MIF).

Macrophages cultured from mouse bone marrow served as excellent indicator cells for mouse as well as for human migration inhibitory factor (MIF) preparations. The tests were performed in the capillary system and showed high reproducibility. Using mouse or human MIF-containing supernatants, we found an inhibition of 53% compared with the controls. Similar results were obtained if concanavalin A-stimulated human peripheral blood lymphocytes were mixed with mouse test macrophages in a ratio of 1:5 or 1:10.