Myelopoiesis in the presence of stromal cells from mouse bone marrow: I. Monosaccharides regulate colony formation.

Colony stimulating factor (CSF) was incapable of inducing the formation of granulocyte/monocyte (G/M) colonies in the presence of bone marrow-derived adherent cells. To test the possibility that interactions between adherent cells and myeloid progenitors are mediated via glycoproteins, we added a variety of sugars to methyl-cellulose cultures of BALB/c mouse bone marrow cells, in the presence of syngeneic bone marrow adherent cells. We found that a number of free sugars, as well as certain glycosides, relieved the inhibition of G/M colony formation exerted by the adherent cells. The effect of these monosaccharides was neither due to osmotic changes nor to their toxicity to the adherent cells. It is therefore concluded that glycoprotein or glycolipid factors may be involved in the interactions between myeloid progenitors and stromal cells.