A hemoregulatory peptide (HPSb) associated with mature human granulocytes has been investigated for inhibitory effects on murine hemopoietic stem cells in vitro. Both highly purified peptide from natural sources and a synthetic analog peptide have been investigated in parallel. Strong inhibitory effects were found on myelopoietic colony formation in the dose range 10-13-10-s mol/l. On exceeding this dose, the inhibitory effect disappeared. Moderate to slight inhibitory effects on erythroid colony formation (BFU-E and CFU-E) from adult animals were only seen in 1000 x the optimal doses for myelopoiesis. No effect was found on CFU-E from fetal liver. The peptide thus has a selective effect on myelopoiesis in a certain dose range. A regulatory mechanism for the peptide on hemopoiesis is proposed.