Histamine-induced bi-directional differentiation of HL-60 cells towards neutrophils and eosinophils

HL-60 cells, treated under alkaline conditions (pH 7.6) or acidic conditions (pH 7.2) for 2 months, were stimulated with histamine for 7 days. From the morphological examination and cytochemical characterization, it became clear that one of the clones treated in acidic pH differentiated to neutrophils and the other clone treated in alkaline medium differentiated to eosinophils after histamine-stimulation. The growth curve reached a maximum 4 days after stimulation. By means of in situ hybridization, it has been shown that the mRNA of major basic protein increased after histamine treatment only in the eosinophilic subclone, starting 4 days after stimulation. From the present study, it is suggested that when HL-60 cells were cultured under different pH conditions, commitment of lineages to the direction of either eosinophils or neutrophils takes place. Histamine may potently stimulate the further differentiation of both eosinophilic and neutrophilic clones.