Mucopolysaccharide Production By Fibroblasts Derived from Human Buffy-Coat Cultures in vitro

Abstract

Grossfeld(l) has shown that fibroblasts from different tissues cultivated in vitro are able to produce acid mucopolysaccharides (AMPS) and release them into the medium. AMPS belong to the group of hyaluronic acid and chondroitin sulphates A and C, are highly polymerized, and give positive mucin clot and hyaluronidase tests(2).Since fibroblast-like cells are known to originate in cultures of buffy-coat and hemapoie-tic tissues(3,4), it seems of interest to study the AMPS production in human white blood cell cultures undergoing fibroblastic transformation.Materials and methods. Peripheral human blood buffycoat was obtained by venipuncture and centrifugation at 600 × g with 0.1 mg/ml of heparin (Liquemine Roche) for each 5 ml of blood and phytoagglutinine (Difco), 0.25 ml for each 10 ml of blood. The first 1 or 2 ml extracted from the vein was discarded to avoid contamination with tissue cells. Buffycoats from 10 ml of blood were explanted in Earle's flasks with a layer of isologous plasma and 5 ml of liquid...