A new assay for factors that regulate the synthesis of granulocyte differentiation proteins in vitro

Morphological and molecular aspects of granulocyte differentiation can be studied concomitantly using liquid cultures of immature granulocytes in conjunction with a newly developed high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) assay for differentiation proteins. Immature granulocytes, isolated from guinea pig bone marrow by Ficoll density centrifugation, were placed in liquid cultures and incubated for periods up to 1 week. In the presence of 10% dialyzed, normal guinea pig serum, these cells were almost all converted to mature granulocytes, whereas at serum concentrations below 1% mostly macrophages were formed. Cell multiplication does not appear to be necessary for granulocyte maturation in this culture system. The data also show that morphological maturation in vitro is accompanied by the formation of all the major membrane and secondary granule differentiation proteins detected by the HPLC assay in extracts of mature granulocytes formed in vivo. The techniques described here should facilitate the isolation and purification of the factors in normal serum that control the induction of synthesis of these differentiation markers.