The Action of Leucogenenol on Lymphoblastoid Cells of Normal and Neoplastic Origin

Abstract

Leucogenenol, first isolated from cultures of Penicillium gilmanii (1) and later from bovine and human liver (2), stimulates the formation of the progenitor cells of the circulating leukocytes in both normal (3) and irradiated (4) animals. Within 24 hr after the injection of leucogenenol, granuloblasts and mlore immature cells are provided with higher than normal proliferation and maturation rates ( 5 ) ; and, consequently, injection of irradiated recipients with bone marrow from mice previously injected with leucogenenol causes an increased rate of colony formation in the spleens of the recipients ( 5 ) . The maturation rate of each of the morphologically recognizable progenitors of the circulating neutrophil and erythrocyte is increased by leucogenenol (6) and neutrophils are released into the circulation to be later sequestered by such tissues as the spleen (7). The proliferation and maturation rate of lymphocytic cells is also increased (6, 7) by leucogenenol ; and, consequently, there is a decrease in the time required for sublethally irradiated (8) and splenectomized (9) mice and rats to become capable of forming hemolysin antibodies.Addition of leucogenenol to a tissue culture of lymphoblastoid cells increases the respiratory quotient (RQ) ( l o ) , increases the rate of replication, decreases the rate of oxygen consuniption ( 10) and induces approximately 60% blastoid transformation in leukocyte cultures of human peripheral blood ( 11).We wish to report that although leucogenenol increases the RQ and decreased the rate of oxygen consumption of lymphoblas-