Stem Cells, Vol 13, 666-670, Copyright © 1995 by AlphaMed Press
The seeding efficiency of normal and hereditarily anemic (b/b) rat bone marrow colony forming units-spleen as determined in a "rat to mouse" assay
ZB Ivanovic and PB Milenkovic
Institute for Medical Research, Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
We demonstrated recently a decreased number, concentration and
proliferative activity of colony forming units-spleen day 8 (CFU-Sd8) in
the bone marrow of the hereditarily anemic Belgrade Laboratory (b/b) rat.
The main consequence of the genetic defect in the b/b rat is impaired
intracellular transport of iron resulting in altered hemopoietic stem and
progenitor cell compartments. In this study, the seeding efficiency (f) for
normal and b/b rat bone marrow CFU-Sd8 was determined in a "rat to mouse"
CFU-S assay. There were no differences in f values for normal and b/b rat
bone marrow CFU-Sd8, indicating that the severe anemia and consequent
metabolic alterations did not affect f in the b/b rat. The calculation of
CFU-Sd8 concentration per 10(5) normal rat bone marrow cells using f as a
correction factor revealed a value similar to that found for populations of
bone marrow cells defined by phenotypes Ox7+ (20%), Ox22-, W3/13dim,
considered to be characteristic of CFU-S. The results revealed the
usefulness of the "rat to mouse" assay for the determination of rat
hemopoietic stem cells.
