title: Bone marrow stromal cells produce thrombopoietin and stimulate megakaryocyte growth and maturation but suppress proplatelet formation.
abstract: Production of blood cells is regulated by the interplay of various cytokines and bone marrow stromal cells. Recently, a ligand for the orphan receptor Mpl was identified as thrombopoietin (TPO), which specifically regulates megakaryocyte differentiation, and it was reported to be expressed mainly in liver and kidney. As it was found that thrombopoietin is also produced in bone marrow stromal cells, we studied further the roles of bone marrow stromal cells on megakaryocytopoiesis and platelet formation. The stromal cells stimulated growth and maturation of bone-marrow-derived megakaryocytes in the presence of thrombopoietin, and also supported growth of BaF3 cells expressing exogenous Mpl without thrombopoietin. Thrombopoietin induces drastic morphological change of megakaryocytes in bone marrow cells in vitro, ie, the formation of lengthy beaded cytoplasmic processes (proplatelet formation). However, when the purified megakaryocytes were cocultured with the stromal cells with or without thrombopoietin, most of the megakaryocytes adhered to the stromal cells and remained unchanged, while free megakaryocytes induced proplatelet formation. These observations indicated that the stromal cells in a hematopoietic microenvironment in bone marrow secrete thrombopoietin and stimulate proliferation and maturation of megakaryocytes, but the interaction of megakaryocytes with the stromal cells may suppress proplatelet formation.
authors.affiliation: Tsukuba Life Science Center, Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN), Ibaraki, Japan.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nagahisa
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nagata
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ohnuki
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Osada
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nagasawa
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Abe
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Todokoro
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001792:Blood Platelets / Q000166:cytology*; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000737:chemistry; D004921:Erythropoietin / Q000378:metabolism; D015870:Gene Expression; D006410:Hematopoiesis; D008297:Male; D008533:Megakaryocytes / Q000166:cytology*; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D018121:Receptors, Cytokine; D017467:Receptors, Erythropoietin / Q000378:metabolism; D053628:Receptors, Thrombopoietin; D013926:Thrombopoietin / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D018121:Receptors, Cytokine; D017467:Receptors, Erythropoietin; D053628:Receptors, Thrombopoietin; D004921:Erythropoietin; C082218:MPL protein, human; D013926:Thrombopoietin