Conditions that support long-term production of osteoclast progenitors in vitro

To better understand the mechanisms of osteoclast precursor development from hematopoietic stem cells, we examined the conditions that support the production of osteoclast progenitors, osteoclast colony-forming units (CFU-O), from long-term bone marrow cultures established under myeloid (Dexter's) and lymphoid (Whitlock and Witte's) conditions. Nonadherent cells harvested weekly from myeloid or lymphoid long-term cultures were assayed for CFU-O-derived colony formation in agar in the presence of a murine osteoclast colony-stimulating factor. The myeloid system supported CFU-O production for weeks, but the system produced many other types of myeloid colonies and cells as well, and quantification of CFU-O-derived colonies was difficult. The lymphoid long-term culture system also produced CFU-O; however, CFU-O production in the lymphoid system appeared more selective than in the myeloid system, but was transient. Interestingly, the addition of medium containing G-CSF to these cultures greatly enhanced (> 200%) the CFU-O production. This enhanced CFU-O production was confirmed using bone marrow cultures established on a defined marrow stromal cell line under lymphoid conditions and supplemented with recombinant murine G-CSF. Thus, G-CSF facilitates the development of clonogenic osteoclast progenitors from hematopoietic stem cells in lymphoid long-term culture conditions. This culture system may serve as a useful model for ex vivo generation of osteoclast progenitors.