Effect of WNT protein on the distribution of blood cell phenotypes in quail bone marrow cells.

Exposure to WNT protein alters the distribution of blood cell phenotypes displayed by quail bone marrow cells. HPC-enriched bone marrow from ED14 quail embryos was incubated in MeC for 6 days in the absence (▪) or presence of either WNT11 CM (░), WNT5a CM (▤), or purified WNT5a protein (■). Colonies were scored and tabulated as described in the legend to Figure 7. After tabulation of the different blood colony types for each culture, mixed and individual lineage colonies were added to determine the proportion of colonies that contained a given blood cell phenotype. The results are presented as the mean values per culture, with the error bars corresponding to the SD. Total number of MeC colonies counted from multiple experiments were 2875 total colonies for the control, 301 colonies for WNT11 CM–treated, 374 colonies WNT5a CM–treated, and 214 colonies WNT5a protein–treated HPC cultures. The phenotypic groups indicated on the x-axis are for colonies that contained RBCs (Ery), macrophages plus monocytes (Mac + Mono), monocytes without macrophages (Mono), and granulocytes (Gr). Note that the control cultures never displayed colonies that contained monocytes without macrophages. Yet treatment with the WNT preparations provoked large numbers of monocyte-positive, macrophage-negative colonies. It should also be noted that, although not indicated in this graph, in response to the WNT treatments, the proportion of RBCs within mixed phenotypic colonies (ie, GEM and ME colonies) appeared to be enhanced.