Eotaxin induces a rapid release of eosinophils and their progenitors from the bone marrow

The CC-chemokine eotaxin is a potent eosinophil chemoattractant that stimulates recruitment of eosinophils from the blood to sites of allergic inflammation. Mobilization from the bone marrow is an important early step in eosinophil trafficking during the allergic inflammatory response. In this paper we examine the potential of eotaxin to mobilize eosinophils and their progenitors from bone marrow. Eotaxin stimulated selective, dose-dependent chemotaxis of guinea pig bone marrow eosinophils in vitro. Intravenous injection of eotaxin (1 nmol/kg) into guinea pigs in vivo stimulated a rapid blood eosinophilia (from 3.9 +/- 1.2 to 28 +/- 9.9 x 10(4) eosinophils/mL at 30 minutes) and a corresponding decrease in the number of eosinophils retained in the femoral marrow (from 9.0 +/- 0. 8 to 4.8 +/- 0.8 x 10(6) eosinophils per femur). To show a direct release of eosinophils from the bone marrow an in situ perfusion system of the guinea pig femoral bone marrow was developed. Infusion of eotaxin into the arterial supply of the perfused femoral marrow stimulated a rapid and selective release of eosinophils into the draining vein. In addition, eotaxin stimulated the release of colony-forming progenitor cells. The cytokine interleukin-5 was chemokinetic for bone marrow eosinophils and exhibited a marked synergism with eotaxin with respect to mobilization of mature eosinophils from the femoral marrow. Thus, eotaxin may be involved in both the mobilization of eosinophils and their progenitors from the bone marrow into the blood and in their subsequent recruitment into sites of allergic inflammation.