Support versus inhibition of hematopoiesis by two characterized stromal cell types.

Stromal cells are believed to regulate hematopoiesis through direct cell-cell contact interactions and the release of growth factors. Many questions remain, however, about their lineage derivation and functional heterogeneity. We have previously shown that the adherent nontransformed, nonimmortalized murine bone marrow stromal cell population consists of three cell types which could be grown separately in vitro. Based on the phenotype characterization and expression of surface antigens, we proposed a classification listing for murine bone marrow stromal cells as macrophages, endothelial-like cells and myofibroblasts that display smooth muscle-like characteristics in culture. The present study describes the ability of each of these freshly isolated separated murine stromal cell populations to support the growth of primitive hematopoietic stem cells previously characterized as highly enriched in long-term repopulating cells (LTRC). Of the three stromal cell types tested only the myofibroblasts were capable of support for multilineage hematopoiesis derived in vitro from LTRC in a cloning ring culture system. Endothelial-like cells had an inhibitory effect on the proliferation of LTRC and their descendant cells that was induced by exogenous growth factors. This inhibitory activity was present in a low molecular weight filtrate of endothelial-like cells culture medium. This suggests an essential role for marrow stroma myofibroblasts in the support of proliferation of hematopoietic cells at the stage of early divisions of primitive hematopoietic stem cells and endothelial-like cells as negative regulators of this proliferation.