Inhibition of the growth and differentiation of erythroid precursor cells by an endotoxin-induced mediator from peritoneal macrophages.

Conditioned medium from cultures of mouse macrophages incubated with endotoxin in a serum-free medium contains an inhibitor of the growth and differentiation of erythroid precursor cells of mouse Friend virus-transformed erythroleukemia cells. Endotoxin itself has no inhibitory effect. The endotoxin-induced macrophage mediator inhibits the growth and differentiation of dimethyl sulfoxide-, hexamethylenebisacetamide-, butyric acid-, and hypoxanthine-induced cells but has no effect on hemin-induced cells. The conditioned medium has its maximal inhibitory effect on committed erythroid precursor cells, a decreased effect on uncommitted stem cells, and no effect on fully differentiated erythroid cells. These results demonstrate that endotoxin stimulation of macrophages leads to the production of a humoral factor(s) which is critical for the growth and differentiation of erythroid precursor cells.