Functional heterogeneity of murine macrophage precursor cells from spleen and bone marrow.

We previously reported that highly purified bone marrow-derived macrophage precursors can exert strong spontaneous cytotoxicity against YAC-1 tumor cells, Candida albicans, and protozoa of the genus Leishmania. In the present paper, evidence is shown that macrophage precursors in normal untreated mice are not confined to the bone marrow compartment but can also be found in the spleen. These organ-associated cells, which have the same buoyant density as large granular lymphocytes, have been positively sorted by means of an indirect rosetting technique employing the macrophage-specific monoclonal antibodies F4/80 and M143. The rosetting fractions represented an extremely homogeneous population of macrophage precursors characterized by high candidacidal and natural killer activity and by a strong proliferative response to the macrophage-specific colony-stimulating factor CSF-1. Spleen- and bone marrow-derived macrophage precursors differed in their target selectivity. In addition, the mature macrophages derived in vitro from these two precursor populations displayed striking differences in their candidacidal activity. The implications of these findings in relationship to heterogeneity in the macrophage differentiation line are discussed.