Effects of ethanol on cultured human megakaryocytic progenitors

Ethanol intoxication may result in the suppression of platelet production in human beings through direct toxicity to the bone marrow. To determine whether this suppression is due in part to a toxic effect on megakaryocytic progenitors, human bone marrow was cultured for 15 days in plasma clots, and megakaryocytic colonies were enumerated. Addition of ethanol to cultures at the beginning of incubation resulted in a reduction in megakaryocytic colonies only when the initial ethanol concentration exceeded 1 g/dl, well above physiologically tolerated levels. However, when cultures were treated with lower concentrations of ethanol (0.5 g/dl) after seven days of incubation, a reduction of megakaryocytic colony formation also occurred. These results suggest that development of a human cell more differentiated than the megakaryocytic progenitor is sensitive to ethanol toxicity at or near concentrations observed in vivo and is in accord with clinical features of the reversible alcohol-induced thrombocytopenic syndrome.