Long-term bone marrow culture as a model for host toxicity: the effect of methotrexate on hematopoiesis and adherent layer function.

Long-term bone marrow culture was used to examine the hematopoietic toxicity of the chemotherapeutic agent methotrexate. A dose-related suppression in myelopoiesis was seen when cultures were treated with 10(-3), 10(-4), or 10(-5) M methotrexate followed by folinic acid rescue. Differential counts revealed an initial decrease of postmitotic myeloid cells followed by mitotic precursors and myeloid colony-forming units (CFU-C). Myelopoiesis had disappeared by 7-10 days when 10(-3) M methotrexate was studied, by day 21 with 10(-4) M methotrexate, and by day 28 with 10(-5) M methotrexate. Although 10(-3) M methotrexate caused a predictable suppression in myelopoiesis, the effect of 10(-5) M methotrexate was more variable. In some studies this dose caused significant suppression of myelopoiesis, whereas in others less suppression occurred. This provides some evidence for varying host susceptibility to drug. Microenvironmental (adherent layer) cells were also affected by methotrexate. An increase in proliferation of these cells occurred in proportion to the dose of methotrexate added to culture. Methotrexate did not affect the ability of the adherent cells to produce colony-stimulating activity (CSA), but high doses did prevent the layer's ability to support the proliferation of adherent cell-free marrow. These results indicate that long-term bone marrow culture can be used to successfully predict and define chemotherapeutic host toxicity.