Alloantigen primed T cells (PTC) were recovered from MLR at day 6 and 12, then added to cultures of erythroid progenitors, erythroid burst-forming units, BFU-E. The PBMC source of BFU-E was prepared either to retain or deplete APC by treatment with appropriate mAb and C. BFU-E grown in cocultures were counted at day 14 and replicate cultures assayed for IFN-gamma production on days 1 to 7. Analysis of MLR cells indicated that large, rapidly cycling cells recovered from MLR at day 6 have significant NK activity, whereas CTL activity is minimal, and production of IFN-gamma requires reexposure to APC. The smaller, noncycling cells recovered from MLR at day 12 have comparable NK activity, also require reexposure to APC for IFN-gamma production, but in addition have significant CTL activity. The addition of day 12 MLR cells to BFU-E cultures results in MHC restricted inhibition of BFU-E growth, suggesting that the CTL activity and not the NK activity contained within this population of cells is responsible for BFU-E inhibition. Studies using enriched population of BFU-E indicated that appropriate APC are needed to trigger both IFN-gamma production and BFU-E inhibition by the PTC. By using various APC-BFU-E combinations it was determined that after reexposure of PTC to appropriate APC, the inhibition of BFU-E was still target-specific indicating a direct effect between the PTC and BFU-E.