The in vitro differentiation of the monocyte into the larger, structurally more complex, functionally more active macrophage is accompanied by an increase in glycolytic activity as well as an increased dependence on aerobic metabolism (1-3). There is little information regarding the factors that regulate these changing patterns of energy metabolism during differentiation. In view of previous observations that environmental constituents have a profound effect on endocytosis (4, 5), one of the principal functional activities of the macrophage, it was of interest to determine if such factors exert a similar influence on the sources of energy provision. Pyruvate kinase activity provides an accurate index to glycolytic capacity (6-8) and cytochrome oxidase an index to mitochondrial oxygen utilization (9, 10). The effects of serum and hypoxia on pyruvate kinase and cytochrome oxidase activities of the cultivated macrophage are examined in the present report.
Materials and MethodsAnimals.--Male mice (25-30 g) of the NCS/PA strain were used in all experiments. The newly designated strain was derived from the NCS (pathogen-free) mice of The Rockefeller University and has been maintained since 1970 as an outbred colony at the Veterans Administration Hospital, Palo Alto, Calif.In Vitro Cultivation of Mononuclear Phagocytes.--Cells were harvested from the peritoneal cavity of unstimulated mice in heparinized, phosphate-buffered saline pH 7.4 by techniques described previously (1, 5). A 10 ml sample of cells (3.0 X 106/ml) in Medium 199 (Schwarz/ Mann, Division of Becton, Dickinson and Co., Orangeburg, N.Y.) containing 20% newborn calf serum (N-BCS) 1 (Grand Island Biological Co., Berkeley, Calif.) was dispensed to each 30 cm 2 T flask, incubated for 60 rain at 37°C, and washed twice in Medium 199 as previously described (5). Cells were reincubated in fresh Medium 199 containing either 2 or 30% NBCS.At the time of harvest, tissue culture media was removed and monolayers were rinsed three