AN APPROACH TO THE CHARACTERIZATION OF STEM CELLS IN MOUSE BONE MARROW

Abstract

The competence of bone marrow to promote recovery of hemopoietic function in irradiated recipient mice was observed to decrease on serial transplantation. Evidence is presented that the protective ability of the serially transplanted marrow can be reconstituted by addition of lymphoid cells harvested from normal lymph nodes. The nature and cellular basis of variations in the proliferative capacity of a given marrow cell population in the course of syngeneic (isologous) transplantation were investigated. A quantitative measure of this capacity of the marrow was obtained by determining the ability of the marrow to form colonies in the spleens of irradiated recipient mice and by measuring incorporation of I/sup 131/-labeled iododeoxyuridine, a specific desoxyribonucleic acid precursor, in such spleens. The proliferative capacity, as evaluated by these techniques, was related to the cellular constitution of the marrow, as determined by differential cytologic analysis of marrow smears, in an attempt to identify the responsible stem cells. (auth)