The stimulation of rat bone marrow fibroblast colony formation by 2-mercaptoethanol

The definition of the function of bone marrow stromal cells in the regulation of hematopoiesis has been complicated by the limited growth of these cells in vitro. We have demonstrated that the addition of 2-mercaptoethanol to rat bone marrow cultures enhances bone marrow fibroblast proliferation as evidenced by a 2-fold increase in the total number of fibroblast colonies and a 5-fold increase in the number of these colonies which contain more than 80 cells. We also present evidence suggesting that enhancement of fibroblast growth may not be due to direct action of 2-mercaptoethanol, but may result from the activation of a serum component. The results from this study should facilitate further research into the function of bone marrow fibroblasts in the regulation of hematopoietic cell differentiation.