Superoxide dismutase halts cycling of murine erythroid progenitor cells prior to S phase in vitro and possibly in vivo.

Mice of the C57BL/6 (B6) strain show a much lower proportion of marrow erythroid progenitor cells (BFU-E) in DNA synthesis in vivo than mice of the congeneic B6S strain. However, when assayed in vitro marrow cells from both strains show high proportions of BFU-E in S-phase. BFU-E from normal B6 mice have been previously shown to be specifically inhibited from entering S-phase in vitro by the antioxidant enzyme superoxide dismutase (SOD), however, in this study we have found that BFU-E taken from the marrow of B6S mice or B6 mice which have been subjected to bleeding are insensitive to SOD inhibition in vitro. Comparisons of results from in vivo and in vitro cycling assays done with cells from both strains indicate that a large proportion of marrow BFU-E in normal B6 mice are halted in the pre-S portion of the cell cycle in vivo, and these halted cells are prevented from going into S-phase in vitro by SOD. The insensitivity to SOD inhibition shown by BFU-E from B6S and bled B6 mice can be attributed to the absence of accumulation of SOD-susceptible cells in pre-S phase in these mice in vivo, and there is evidence to suggest that the difference in BFU-E cycling seen in vivo may be due to interactions between SOD and factors which stimulate cycling of BFU-E.

Superoxide dismutase specifically inhibits erythroid cell DNA synthesis and proliferation.

The antioxidant enzyme superoxide dismutase (SOD) was previously shown to inhibit both the proliferation of murine erythroid DA-1 cells growing in the presence of Interleukin-3 (IL-3) and the DNA synthesis of marrow erythroid progenitor cells (BFU-E) in vitro. We show here that the inhibition of marrow cell DNA synthesis by SOD is specific for BFU-E and erythroid precursors (CFU-E), with other myeloid progenitors (CFU-GM) and stem cells (CFU-S) being unaffected, and IL-3 blocks the inhibitory effects of SOD on BFU-E in a dose-dependent manner. Extending earlier observations on the effects of SOD on cell proliferation, it was found that SOD was capable of inhibiting DA-1 cell proliferation supported by either IL-3 or erythropoietin (epo), but had no effect on IL-3 dependent FDCP-1 cells, nor on epo-dependent HCD-57 cells. Of several murine erythroleukemia cell lines tested, only those transformed with Friend SFFVa virus were inhibited by SOD, while those transformed with Friend SFFVp or MuLV virus were not affected. These results show that the effects of SOD are not antagonistic to particular growth factors but rather the inhibition is specific for erythroid cells, and cells of the proper stage can be inhibited even if they have been transformed to factor independence.

Purification of an inhibitor of erythroid progenitor cell cycling and antagonist to interleukin 3 from mouse marrow cell supernatants and its identification as cytosolic superoxide dismutase.

We have isolated a protein from media conditioned by a murine marrow-derived cell line (PB6) and from mouse marrow supernatants that antagonizes interleukin 3-dependent proliferation of cells in culture and reversibly inhibits DNA synthesis of erythroid progenitor cells (BFU-E) in vitro. This protein, p16 (monomer Mr = 16 kD on SDS-PAGE), was purified to homogeneity and amino acid sequencing of a polypeptide fragment yielded a sequence identical to that of murine cytosolic Cu,Zn-containing superoxide dismutase (SOD). The identification of p16 as SOD was confirmed by the detection of SOD enzymatic activity in pure p16 fractions, and when a commercial human erythrocytic SOD preparation was tested it showed the same cell inhibitory activities as p16. These observations show that superoxide dismutase is able to affect the cycling and growth factor responses of hematopoietic cells, activities that have not previously been associated with this enzyme.

Friend virus replication in normal and immunosuppressed C57BL/6 mice.

Young adult C57BL/6 mice are resistant to the replication of Friend virus. We show here that this resistance is not absolute. In 7-week old C57BL/6 mice injected with NB-tropic Friend virus iv, high titers of SFFV could be recovered from the spleen at 8 days after infection but by 21 days, no virus was detectable. A single dose of anti-Thy 1.2 monoclonal antibody iv before FV infection permitted continued replication of SFFV in these animals. This finding strongly supports the hypothesis that SFFV replication in C57BL/6 mice is restricted by a T cell-mediated immune response.

[Hyperkalemia--life-threatening early complication of asphyxia in premature infants]. / Hyperkaliämie--lebensbedrohliche Frühkomplikation asphyktischer Frühgeborener.

16 premature infants with hyaline membrane disease all under mechanical ventilation developed severe electrolyte disturbances during the first 48 hours. The serum potassium concentration increased over 8 mmol/l. After a delay of several hours the serum calcium concentration decreased to 1.0-1.4 mmol/l. The metabolic-respiratory acidosis (pH 6.92-7.19) was present in nearly all patients. The typical hyperkalemic cardiac arrhythmia appeared in 7 patients; six of them died. The quick shifting of potassium from the extracellular into the intracellular space by the glucose-insulin infusion was indispensable for the survival of our patients. The serum potassium concentration decreased by 2.9-5.1 mmol/l in 4 hours. When the cardiac arrhythmia is present calcium gluconate and bicarbonate must be infused immediately followed by the glucose-insulin infusion.

Immunosuppression after injection of Friend virus into C57BL/6 mice of different ages.

Injection with Friend virus (FV) causes immunosuppression in young and old C57BL/6 mice, i.e. it occurs whether or not the virus replicates very briefly or for a long period. There are only minor age-related differences in the extent of immunosuppression, except that suppression appears to persist somewhat longer in old than in young animals.

Friend virus replication as a function of age.

We have investigated the effect of age on the replication of Friend spleen focus-forming virus (SFFV). Recovery of SFFV from the spleens of four strains of mice was determined following intravenous infection with NB-tropic Friend virus (FV) complex at ages ranging from 6 to 134 weeks. In C57BL/6 mice, the virus did not replicate in adults up to 40 weeks of age, but beyond that there was a steep exponential increase with age in the amounts of SFFV recoverable. In C3H/He mice, which replicate the virus as young adults, the amount of SFFV recovered was 6-fold greater in old than in young mice. Recovery of virus was biphasic with age in SJL mice; in A strain mice no consistent change with age was noted. In C57BL/6 mice, reconstitution of lethally irradiated recipients with syngeneic marrow cells, followed by i.v. infection with FV, showed that the amounts of SFFV recovered depended on the age of the recipient. The present work shows that Friend SFFV replication is a sensitive indicator and can be used as a tool for the investigation of aging processes. The mechanisms responsible for the age-dependent change in regulation of virus replication and for the polymorphism remain to be determined.

Gene controlled negative regulation of DNA synthesis in erythropoietic progenitor cells.

Congenic strains differing by a small segment of Chromosome 9 that bears the Fv-2 locus have provided valuable material for investigating genetic resistance to Friend polycythemia virus (FV). C57BL/6 (B6) (Fv-2rr) mice have been found to differ from B6.S (Fv-2ss) mice not only in their response to this virus but also in the proliferative state of their erythropoietic progenitor cells BFU-E: in B6 mice the majority of BFU-E are normally quiescent, while in B6.S mice approximately 50% are actively synthesizing DNA at any time. We have shown that B6 but not B6.S marrow contains a macromolecule that negatively regulates DNA synthesis specifically of BFU-E in vitro. Evidence is presented that this macromolecule is a physiological negative regulator active in vivo in B6 mice. A new liquid culture system is described in which FV and erythropoietin (epo) act synergistically on Ficoll-Isopaque separated bone marrow cells to give rise after 7 days to large numbers of CFU-E detectable in 2-day plasma cultures with and without epo. Inclusion of concentrated B6 but not B6.S bone marrow supernatant in liquid cultures drastically curtailed the amplification of CFU-E by FV and epo. These studies indicate that both DNA synthesis and the BFU-E stage of differentiation are necessary conditions for initiating the effects of polycythemia-inducing FV. Genetic resistance to FV appears not to reside within the target cells for the virus.

Tumor colony formation by Friend virus-infected cells in immunosuppressed mice.

We have investigated the role of host immunological factors in the formation of "tumor colonies" in the spleens of unirradiated C57BL/6 X C3Hf/Bi FI mice 9 days after i.v. injection of spleen cells from Friend virus (FV)-infected C3Hf/Bi donors. Pretreatment of hosts with antilymphocyte serum (ATS) increased the number of tumor colonies. Pretreatment with formalinized FV-infected cells had the opposite effect, and ATS diminished the inhibitory effect of preimmunization. Cell suspensions from 11 individual FV-infected donors were examined. The suspensions differed with respect to their behavior on transplantation into untreated and ATS-pretreated F1 hybrid hosts. With several suspensions, the number of tumor colonies produced was approximately proportional to the number of cells injected; in all of these, ATS increased the slope of the line relating colony number to cell number. With most of the suspensions, tumor colony-forming efficiencies in untreated hosts strikingly decreased with increasing number of cells injected; ATS induced an increase in the number of tumor colonies and rendered the colony-forming response more nearly proportional to cell number. With two suspensions, few or no colonies developed; pretreatment with ATS had no significant effect. When the 11 cell suspensions were considered together, a proportional relation was found between the magnitude of the ATS effect (i.e., colony number in the presence of ATS minus colony number in the absence of ATS) and the colony-forming efficiency in ATS-treated mice. The ATS effect on the average was equivalent to a 2-fold increase in tumor colony-forming efficiency. We interpret these findings to indicate that two factors interact to determine the number of tumor colonies produced by spleen cells from FV-infected C3H donors in untreated F1 hybrid hosts. One is a property of the FV-infected cell population and includes its frequency of tumor colony-forming units; this factor varies widely among different cell suspensions. The other is a property of the tumor colony-forming units-host interrelationship and includes the vulnerability of tumor colony-forming units to the host immune response elicited by the injected cells; this factor appears to be constant with different cell suspensions. The present results show that the two factors can be dissociated in immunosuppressed hosts.