In long-term marrow cultures haemopoiesis can be maintained in vitro for up to 6 months. Critical analysis of the cell populations produced has shown that the stem cells and their committed progeny have characteristics in common with the corresponding cell types in vivo. The maintenance of haemopoiesis in vitro is associated with the development of an appropriate inductive environment provided by bone marrow derived adherent cells. Analysis of the interactions between environmental and haemopoietic cells has been facilitated by the development of vitro systems reproducing the naturally occurring genetic environmental defects and other systems where the development of a competent inductive environment shows a dependency upon corticosteroid hormones. Investigations have shown that stem cell proliferation may be controlled by production of opposing activities, one stimulatory for DNA synthesis, the other inhibitory. A model is proposed whereby modulation in the production of these factors is determined by the physical presence of stem cells in a proposed cellular milieu, within the adherent layer. The adherent layer, apart from acting at the level of stem cell proliferation, can also modify the response of differentiating cells (eg, GM-CFC) to exogenous stimulatory activities. Addition of GM-CSF or of CSF-antiserum has no effect on haemopoiesis in long-term cultures.
Incubation of murine spleen cells with the oxidation product of soybean lipoxidase-treated arachidonic acid results in profound inhibition of induction of proliferation and maturation of these cells. The active entity was shown to be the 15-hydroperoxide of arachidonic acid (15-HPAA). Inhibition of the enzymes of the cyclo-oxygenase pathway fails to disturb this effect, indicating that 15-HPAA is not a substrate for this series of enzymes. 15-HPAA produced in this manner interfered with RNA synthesis, DNA synthesis, and blastogenesis, while failing to exert cytotoxic effects on the cells themselves. A variety of lymphocyte subpopulations, distinguished by their responsiveness to a diverse group of mitogens, were all equally inhibited by the addition of 15-HPAA to culture. Addition of this agent even as late as 24 h after initiation of culture resulted in profound inhibition of the proliferative and differentiative responses of splenic B cells to bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Exposure of cells to 15-HPAA for 10-30 min was adequate to initiate inhibition, an event that exhibited marked temperature dependence. The effects of pre-incubation with 15-HPAA could not be reversed in its absence in recovery periods of up to 6 h prior to addition of LPS. The implications of these data with reference to cellular activation mechanisms are discussed.
We have found that the acetylcholine receptor (AChR) of Torpedo californica is phosphorylated and dephosphorylated in situ by a membrane-bound protein kinase and phosphatase [1]. There is increasing evidence that other neurotransmitters [2], light [3-6], polypeptide hormones [7], and growth factors [8-12] also may act by regulating the level of phosphorylation of membrane proteins. These observations suggest that membrane protein phosphorylation may be a general regulatory mechanism affecting the response of cells to exogenous metabolic and physical signals. To understand the role of membrane protein phosphorylation, we have chosen to study acetylcholine receptor-enriched membranes purified from the electric organ of T californica. This organ is an ideal model system for such studies since it is a rich source of the acetylcholine receptor. Membranes can be purified from the electric organ that are enriched in the AChR[13] and that show cholinergic agonist-dependent changes in cation flux [14]. Moreover, the AChR from T californica has been purified [15[, biochemically characterized [16], and used to generate specific antibodies [17]. Receptor, enriched membranes contain only a few other proteins that are closely associated with the receptor in the postsynaptic membrane. Such associated proteins may play a critical role in regulating the function of the AChR in the postsynaptic membrane. We have taken advantage of these conditions to study phosphorylation of the membrane-bound AChR in this well-defined, homogeneous system.
Plasma contains a number of insulin-like activities (ILA) of molecular weights 7,000 to 90,000 (somatomedins and insulin-like proteins) which stimulate cellular metabolism and may function as growth factors. We have found evidence for the presence of an 800 Dalton peptide in human plasma which markedly stimulates the metabolism of chick chondrocytes. This peptide was extracted from human Cohn fraction IV-1 by procedures similar to those used for somatomedin isolations. At the Sephadex G-50 column separation step, the fraction with molecular weights of 300-1,000 was found to markedly stimulate chick chondrocyte metabolism. Rechromatography on Sephadex G-25 concentrated activity in peptides of molecular weight of about 800. An HPLC separation on a silica C-18 reverse phase column gave elution of the active peptide at 18% acetonitrile in water. This bioactivity appears to be a peptide which is free of lipids, carbohydrates, nucleic acids, metal ions, and immunoreactive insulin. This factor markedly increased the metabolism of cultured chick chondrocytes, but had only marginal activity on rat chondrocytes. When added at 1 microgram/ml to chick chondrocytes cultured in F-12 medium plus 1.5% fetal calf serum, the HPLC-purified activity increased DNA synthesis 7.3-fold, lipid synthesis 10.2-fold, and lactate production 2.9-fold after 48 h incubation. However, unlike somatomedins A and C, this factor did not displace insulin from placental membranes. These results suggest that low-molecular-weight peptides, which are smaller than the somatomedins, may contribute to the total ILA of human plasma.
Specific antibodies to human glycophorin A and spectrin were used to study the expression of these membrane proteins in normal and pathologic human bone marrow. In immunofluorescence experiments spectrin and glycophorin A are found in 50-60% of the nucleated cells in normal bone marrow. These two proteins are expressed at all stages of red cell differentiation and can be traced at least to the earliest morphologically recognizable nucleated red cell precursor, the proerythroblast; the two proteins are specific for cells of the red cell series and are not found to be expressed in lymphocytic, granulocytic cells or platelets. These conclusions were drawn from studies on bone marrow in patients with a temporary block in erythropoiesis at the level of stem cells or of the pronormoblast. Bone marrow from these individuals either lacked all nucleated cells stainable for glycophorin A and spectrin or contained only pronormoblasts. Similar findings were obtained on spleen cells from mice which were made severely anemic by multiple injections with N-acetyl-phenylhydrazine. Antibodies to a sialoglycoprotein isolated from mouse red cell membranes stain 70-80% of all cells in the spleen of anemic animals, while only 1-2% of such cells are seen in the spleen of normal animals. Spectrin and glycophorin A could be labeled metabolically and isolated using specific antibodies. The human tumor cell line K562 expresses both membrane proteins, but induction experiments with various agents thus far have failed to change their expression.
In this paper we have examined the growth and differentiation of the embryonal carcinoma cell line, F9, in the defined medium EM-3 at low density. We show that the growth of F9 and their differentiated cells (F9-diff) in EM-3 is strongly density dependent. At low cell densities the growth of both cell types is severely limited and most of the cells do not survive. Although this poses a problem for working with F9 and F9-diff in EM-3, it provides a convenient assay for identifying molecules that support their growth at low density. Using this assay, we have determined that laminin, a newly isolated glycoprotein of basement membranes, significantly improves the growth and short-term survival of both F9 and F9-diff. However, addition of laminin to EM-3 is insufficient to promote the clonal growth of these cell types. Our findings also indicate that laminin promotes the attachment of F9 and F9-diff in defined media. On the basis of our results, we propose an attachment function for laminin during the early stages of mammalian development.
A heat-sensitive, trypsin-sensitive factor that promoted growth and spreading of cells in serum-free, hormone-supplemented medium was partially purified from human serum. The major portion of the proteins in these preparations migrated upon SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis with a mobility consistent with molecular weights between 60,000 and 90,000. The spreading activity, which we have termed serum spreading factor, stimulated growth and spreading of a wide variety of cell types. The serum spreading factor was similar to fibronectin in that it showed an affinity for the plastic cell culture substrate but was shown to be distinct from fibronectin by several criteria. This factor may prove useful in studies of cell attachment and spreading and in studies of the relationship of cell shape and cell proliferation.
By two independent methods, the solubilized receptor for phosvitin (PV) has a subunit MW of 116K. Affinity chromatography, showed that only 2 of the more than 25 proteins present in the total detergent solubilized oocyte membrane extract were retained on a PV-agarose column. These proteins of MW of 116K and 100K could be eluted from PV-agarose with free PV. By gel exclusion chromatography, the receptor-125I-PV complexes elute in the void volume of a Biogel A-1.5 column. When these void fractions were assayed gy SDS-PAGE only a single protein of MW of 116K was observed in addition to 125I-PV.
A specific in vitro assay was developed for the protein carboxyl methyltransferase that is involved in the chemotactic behavior of Salmonella typhimurium. This cytosolic enzyme catalyzes an S-adenosyl-L-methionine-dependent methyl esterification of glutamyl residues on a class of 60,000-dalton inner-membrane proteins. The activity was found to display a pH optimum of 6.5 and be sensitive to the concentration of salts in the assay medium. No detectable activity was found towards a variety of other proteins which serve as substrates for mammalian and other bacterial carboxyl methyltransferases. This assay was used to quantitate the methylation of the 60,000-dalton methyl-accepting proteins in response to chemoeffectors. Small but reproducible concentration-dependent changes in the initial rates of in vitro methylation were observed with chemotactic attractants and repellents. The specific methyltransferase activity was found to be absent in several mutants in flagellar synthesis (fla-), suggesting that the synthesis of this enzyme is coordinately regulated with that of flagellin and basal bodies. The hydrodynamic properties of the enzyme in crude extracts were determined by gel filtration and sucrose velocity gradient centrifugation, and a native molecular weight of 41,000 was calculated from these data.
We have recently described the affinity chromatography purification of the turkey erythrocyte beta-adrenergic receptor. The minute amounts obtained initially precluded extensive biochemical characterization. To improve the yield of the receptor, the erythrocyte membranes have been prepared by a new method. This procedure resulted in a 10-fold higher receptor density in comparison with the membrane preparation used previously. The new membranes also contained a catecholamine-sensitive guanine triphosphatase and an adenylate cyclase sensitive to Gpp(NH)p and l-epinephrine. Solubilization by a double digitonin extraction resulted in a preparation containing 4-6 pmoles of 3H-dihydroalprenolol binding sites per mg of membrane protein. A single step of affinity chromatography on alprenolol-sepharose of the soluble digitonin extract resulted in an additional 1,000-fold purification of the receptor. The overall purification factor was 20,000 relative to the binding activity of the crude membrane preparations. Electrophoresis is SDS-polyacrylamide of iodinated purified beta-receptors revealed, after autoradiography, the presence of four major components. Three of these, corresponding to molecular weights of 170,000, 33,000, and 30,000, respectively, were not affected by reduction with beta-mercaptoethanol and were not observed when the digitonin extracts were loaded on the affinity gel in the presence of an excess of l-propranolol. A fourth 52,000-dalton component (60,000 daltons after reduction with beta-mercaptoethanol) remained apparent even when affinity purification was prevented by addition of l-propranolol. Our results suggest that the beta-adrenergic receptor is composed of at least three subunits that interact by noncovalent bonds.
The glucocorticoid-induced lysis of lymphoid cell lines offers a genetic approach to steroid hormone action because unresponsive variants can easily be selected as resistant to this lytic effect. The present state of analysis of lymphocytolysis in two murine cell lines, the S49 T-lymphoma and the W7 thymoma, is reviewed. All glucocorticoid-resistant variants isolated so far result from various defects in the glucocorticoid receptor. The absence of variants blocked at another step of the lytic mechanism is discussed. The observed hemizygosity of the glucocorticoid receptor locus in the S49 line and the instability of cell hybrids illustrate some of the potential problems encountered in somatic cell genetics.
In synchronized V79 cells perturbed by serum, heat shock, or ionizing radiation at half-hour intervals through a modal 8.5-hour cell cycle, phase-response curves show a characteristic biphasic pattern of advances and delays in subsequent cell divisions. These observations, together with previous observations of quantizement of generation times in this an other cell lines have led us to consider a model incorporating, in the simplest case, a two-component oscillator with two threshold crossings required per cell cycle. By assuming that oscillator variables respond in a simple way to the experimental perturbations, for example, by first order destruction due to heat shock, a map of the qualitative features of the oscillator can be obtained by matching simulated with experimental phase response curves. Random fluctuations in oscillator variables about a fixed trajectory lead to subthreshold oscillations and result in a distribution of generation times which is roughly a negative exponential, but quantized within this exponential envelope. The extent of the random fluctuations can be determined from comparison with data on desynchronization of a cell population after mitotic selection. The same parameters which correctly simulate phase response and the desynchronization data also give good agreement with generation time distribution data.
The role of the binding of succinylated concanavalin A to tissue culture cells in influencing epidermal growth factor (EGF)-mediated cell proliferation has been studied. Succinylated concanavalin A dramatically reduces the stimulation of 3T6 cells by EGF in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DME) containing insulin and vitamin B12 as additional growth factors, but no serum. Furthermore, binding studies using 125I-labeled EGF have shown that the binding of EGF to the cell surface is reduced upon addition of succinylated concanavalin A.
AbstractNerve growth factor (NGF) is likely to exert its trophic action on dorsal root ganglion (DRG) and on sympathetic ganglion neurons by controlling a crucial function of these cells. This function would in turn regulate other cellular machineries and, ultimately, lead to the traditional NGF consequences, such as survival and neuritic growth. A corollary of this view is that the key to NGF action must lie in short‐latency events, occurring within minutes of NGF administration. Chick embryo DRG dissociates have proved to be an effective experimental system to investigate short‐latency responses to NGF, in that (1) measurable functional deficits develop over 6 h of NGF deprivation in vitro and (2) delayed presentation of NGF promptly and fully restores the defective function. The first deficit observed in this experimental system, a decline in RNA‐labeling capability, led to the recognition that NGF controls the transport of selected exogenous substrates, all of which are Na+‐coupled and depend on an Na+ gradient across the neuronal membrane. Subsequent work showed that NGF controlled such transport systems by actually regulating the neuronal ability to control intracellular Na+. Under NGF deprivation, the DRG cells accumulate Na+ to levels that reflect, and presumably equate, the extracellular Na+ concentrations. Conversely, on delayed NGF administration, the accumulated Na+ is actively extruded to an extent and at a speed that depends on the NGF concentration. The Na+ response is elicited by both Beta and 7S NGF, but not by other proteins tested. All ganglionic systems that display a requirement for exogenous NGF in culture have also displayed the Na+ response to NGF. The Na+ response is grossly paralleled by a K+ response. DRG dissociates, in which intracellular K+ has been pre‐equilibrated with extracellular 86Rb+, lose their 86Rb+ over 6 h of NGF deprivation and restore it on delayed NGF administration. The regulation by NGF of mechanisms controlling intracellular Na+ and K+ levels in their target neurons is likely to occupy an early and fundamentl place in the sequence of events underlying the mode of action of this factor.
Averaged projections of individual glutamine synthetase molecules have been obtained by using electron microscopy and image processing. The methodology of correlation averaging under low dose conditions is described in detail. Because of their low signal-to-noise ratio, images made under low dose conditions cannot be directly interpreted in terms of high resolution features. Computer averaging of these images reveals a division of the subunit projection into two domains whose sizes agree with results of Lei et al [2] limited proteolysis experiments.
The localization of thrombin receptors on mouse embryo (ME) cells has been examined by direct fluorescence microscopy using a fluorescein amine-labeled thrombin. Two fluorescein amines, 4-(N-2-aminoethyl thioureal)-fluorescein and 4-(N-5-aminohexyl thioureal)-fluorescein, were synthesized and attached to the carbohydrate moiety of highly purified human alpha-thrombin by periodate oxidation of the carbohydrate and selective reduction of the Schiff's base using sodium cyanoborohydride. Preparations of fluorescent thrombin with from 1 to 4 fluoresceins per molecule of thrombin retained their ability to proteolytically cleave fibrinogen to form fibrin clots, to bind to thrombin receptors on ME cells, and to initiate cell division. After incubating mitogenic concentrations of the fluorescein amine labeled thrombin with ME cells at 4 degrees C, a diffuse fluorescent pattern was observed over the surface of the ME cells. This diffuse pattern was specific: it was not observed on cells from parallel cultures incubated with fluorescent thrombin plus a 20-fold excess of unlabeled thrombin. Thus, thrombin receptors appear to be distributed randomly over the surface of ME cells prior to interaction with thrombin. Increasing the temperature to 37 degrees C following binding at 4 degrees C resulted in a rapid dissociation of the fluorescent pattern from the cells leaving only the autofluorescent vesicles. This result may reflect the unique ability of thrombin to proteolytically cleave its own receptor.
In the present study we investigated the presence of T-lymphocyte progenitors in the long-term murine bone marrow culture system described by Dexter: mature Thy-1 antigen-bearing T lymphocytes are lost in these cultures after a few days. By culturing nonadherent cells from such cultures in the presence of a supernatant of concanavalin A-stimulated spleen cells, a source of T-cell growth factor, we found that Thy-1 positive blast cells proliferated together with a second population of Thy-1 negative cells. These two populations of cells have been maintained in long-term in vitro cultures by passaging the cells in fresh conditioned medium at regular intervals. Moreover, we have been able to establish pure cultures of the Thy-1 bearing blast cells after separating them from the non-T cells using their adherence property to plastic surfaces. Long-term cultures of T lymphocytes can thus be established from long-term marrow cultures as well as from the spleen, thymus or fresh bone marrow.
This study was designed to investigate the effects of allogenic effect factor (AEF), a soluble mediator derived from short-term mixed lymphocyte cultures (MLC) of in vitro alloantigen-primed T cells, on cultures of murine bone marrow cells. Cultures established under suboptimal conditions namely, in the absence of a pre-established adherent cell layer as required in conventional Dexter-type cultures--declined and lost their stem cell activity rapidly. In contrast, supplementation of these cultures, at initiation and thereafter, with AEF, but not with T cell growth factor (TCGF), induced cell growth and proliferation for several weeks. Such AEF-supplemented cultures exhibited cellular heterogeneity and stem cell activity for significantly longer periods than the control cultures. Even in conventional Dexter cultures, established under optimal conditions, AEF had a beneficial effect on cellular growth and proliferation and myeloid progenitor cell (CFU-C) activity. Furthermore, cell capable of synergizing with suboptimal numbers of mature T cells in con A-induced mitogenic responses, shown by others to be pre-T cells, were detected in the AEF-supplemented cultures for several weeks.
The lymphokine Interleukin 2(IL2) restores T cell responses in a number of in vitro systems where immunogenicity has been compromised. UV irradiation of the stimulating allogeneic cells in a mixed leukocyte culture eliminates the production of cytotoxic T lymphocytes and greatly reduces the DNA synthesis response. IL2 restores both parameters. UV-irradiated stimulators are also unable to induce the normal production of IL2 which is observed in a mixed leukocyte culture. The cytotoxic activity of allogeneically stimulated thymocytes is almost completely lost within 24 hours after removal of IL2 at 5 days, indicating that the lymphokine is continuously required to maintain CTL. Thymocytes in 4-day cultures do not adsorb IL2 unless they are simultaneously activated with a mitogen. Finally, IL2 does not adequately restore a secondary response to the purified protein derivative of tuberculin (PPD) in adherent-cell-depleted cultures, indicating that macrophages, in addition to being required for IL2 production, have other functions. These probably include the presentation of soluble antigens to responding cells.
