The impact of homologous and heterologous nurse cells on the division capability of sparsely plated cells.

The growth-promoting effects of nurse cells of carrot, tomato, patato, maize, bean, carnation and two species of tobacco were studied on carrot, tomato, tobacco and potato cells plated at low densities. In an area immediately below the nurse cells the plating efficiency was very high and found to be independent of cell density. In an area outside the nurse cells, in some cases, the plating efficiency tended to be much higher in combinations with cells from a heterologous source as compared with those from a homologous source. Moreover, in the same area with some combinations the plating efficiency decreased when cell density was lowered, while with other combinations this phenomenon did not occur. This decrease was independent of the absolute value of plating efficiency. In experiments in which the concentration of conditioning factors was presumably changed, no significant difference in the plating efficiency was noticed. We therefore suggest that different plating efficiencies observed with heterologous nurse cells were not due to a higher level of conditioning factors, but rather to the production of different types of conditioning factors that are presumably degraded with different efficiency.