Preparation and characterization of human bone marrow-derived macrophages.

Bone marrow-derived macrophages were prepared from human bone marrow mononuclear cells following cultivation in GCT-conditioned medium (GCT-CM) and purification by adherence to fibronectin-coated flasks. The growth of bone marrow mononuclear cells in GCT-CM was dependent on the shape of the culture vessels, being increased in round-bottomed versus flat-bottomed wells. Proliferation was confined to nonadherent cells; like blood monocytes, bone marrow-derived macrophages did not incorporate [3H]thymidine in response to GCT-CM or human serum. Purified macrophages from this source expressed nonspecific esterase and OKM1, OKla, FMC 17, 32, and 34 and 25F9 antigens but lacked Mo2. They expressed high levels of an inactivator of plasminogen activator, minactivin, and gave a substantial metabolic burst in response to phorbol myristate acetate or opsonized (but not unopsonized) zymosan. Bone marrow-derived macrophages acted as accessory cells in the response of T lymphocytes to phytohemagglutinin. The results suggest that liquid bone marrow cultures are useful in the study of the differentiation of human mononuclear phagocytes.