Gino Vairo

CSF-1 stimulates Na+K+-ATPase mediated 86Rb+ uptake in mouse bone marrow-derived macrophages

86Rb+ was used as an isotopic tracer for the measurement of K+-uptake into quiescent murine bone marrow-derived macrophages. 86Rb+ uptake was inhibited by ouabain indicating a Na+K+-ATPase is being measured. In support of this finding, increased sensitivity to ouabain inhibition was seen when the K+ content of the medium was reduced. A purified colony stimulating factor (CSF-1) was shown to stimulate the ouabain-sensitive 86Rb+ uptake in a dose-dependent manner. Such colony stimulating factor stimulation of 86Rb+ (K+) influx was rapid, with a maximal effect seen 10 minutes after growth factor addition followed by a gradual decrease. Thus increased Na+K+-ATPase activity was an early response of macrophages to the colony stimulating factor.

CSF-1 stimulates glucose uptake in murine bone marrow-derived macrophages

3H-2-deoxyglucose was used as an isotopic tracer for the measurement of glucose uptake into quiescent murine bone marrow derived macrophages. A purified colony stimulating factor (CSF-1) was shown to stimulate 3H-2-deoxyglucose uptake in a dose-dependent manner. This stimulation was rapid, with a maximal effect seen at 20-30 minutes after growth factor addition. Both the inhibition by cytochalasin B and also the relative degree of competition by high concentrations of a series of glucose analogues suggest that the basal and CSF-1 stimulated 2-deoxyglucose uptake occur via a carrier facilitated D-glucose transport system. The data indicate that a purified growth factor can increase the glucose uptake in macrophages, a finding which could be relevant to the survival and/or the proliferative response of this and other haemopoietic cell types.

Regulation of pinocytosis in murine macrophages by colony-stimulating factors and other agents.

Lucifer yellow (LY) accumulation was used to measure macrophage pinocytosis. The hematopoietic growth factors, macrophage colony‐stimulating factor (CSF‐1), granulocyte‐macrophage CSF (GM‐CSF), and interleukin 3, and the macrophage activators, lipopolysaccharide and zymosan, all stimulated LY uptake in both murine bone marrow–derived macrophages (BMMs) and resident peritoneal macrophages (RPMs) without affecting LY efflux. The stimulation of pinocytosis in the poorly cycling RPMs and in BMMs by nonmitogens dissociates stimulation of pinocytosis from subsequent DNA synthesis. Regulation of pinocytosis in BMMs appears to be independent of that of urokinase‐type plasminogen activator expression. The increases in CSF‐mediated BMM pinocytosis were not inhibited by pertussis toxin, by elevations in intracellular cAMP, or by glucocorticoids and were only partially inhibited by inhibitors of Na+/H+ antiport and Na+/K+‐ATPase activities. Protein kinase C activation could be involved in regulating BMM pinocytosis because phorbol myristate acetate, oleoylacyglycerol, and exogenously added phospholipase C can all stimulate it. Ca2+ ionophores were inactive, whereas the Na+/H+ ionophore monensin potently inhibited BMM pinocytosis.

Coumarins: macrophage proteinase production and pinocytosis.

SummaryCoumarins, which are thought to stimulate macrophage proteinase activity, have been advocated for the treatment of high protein oedemas, such as obstructive lymphoedema. In experiments with cultured murine macrophages, coumarin and 7-hydroxycoumarin (10−3 or 10−4M) had no significant effect on plasminogen-activator activity, plasminogen-independent fibrinolytic activity or pinocytosis. Although no in vitro effect on macrophage proteinase activity was found, it is possible that coumarins acitvate other cell types in vivo and thus effectively treat lymphoedema.