Evidence that microenvironmental factors account for the age-related decline in neutrophil function

We measured the function of neutrophils harvested from the supernatant of long-term marrow cultures in which stromal cell cultures derived from young mice were recharged with hematopoietic cells from old mice and vice versa. The functions measured were superoxide generation and enzyme secretion (lysozyme and glucuronidase), following cell activation by either phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) or Formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (FMLP). In addition we measured cytosolic calcium concentration and its increase following activation by FMLP. In all culture combinations recharge resulted in the recovery of greater than 2 X 10(6) cells/flask (95% neutrophils, 98% viable). Histologic studies of cytoplasmic markers indicated that recovered neutrophils were derived from the stem cell population employed for recharge. For each neutrophil parameter measured, function was markedly improved when old hematopoietic stem cells were recharged onto a young stroma and was significantly diminished when young stem cells were recharged onto an old stroma. This applied to superoxide generation, basal and stimulated enzyme levels, and to basal cytosolic calcium concentration and its increase following activation by FMLP. These results indicate that when old hematopoietic stem cells proliferate in a young microenvironment, neutrophil function returns virtually to normal. Conversely, function diminishes when young stem cells proliferate in an old stroma. These findings demonstrate, for the first time, that neutrophil function is modulated by microenvironmental factors, hormonal, cellular, or matrix, which are decreased in the elderly. That an age-related decline in function is extrinsic to the cell and is reversible has significance for the study of neutrophil function and of cellular aging and has potential therapeutic implications.