MULTIPLICATION OF HAEMOPOIETIC COLONY FORMING UNITS (CFU) IN MICE AFTER X-IRRADIATION AND BONE MARROW TRANSPLANTATION

Kinetics of the multiplication of haemopoietic CFUs was studied in lethally irradiated mice receiving various numbers of syngeneic bone marrow cells. After transplantation of a small number of bone marrow cells, the growth rate of CFU in femoral bone marrow appeared to decrease after about 10 days after transplantation, before the normal level of CFU in the femur was attained. In the spleen it was found that the overshoot which was observed about 10 days after transplantation of a large number of bone marrow cells is smaller or absent when a small number of cells is transplanted. Experiments dealing with transplantation of 50 x 10⁶ bone marrow cells 0, 4 or 10 days after a lethal irradiation indicated that the decline in growth rate of CFUs about 10 days after irradiation could not be attributed to environmental changes in the host.
The results are explained by the hypothesis that a previous excessive proliferation of CFUs diminishes the growth rate thereafter. This hypothesis is supported by experiments in which 50 x 10⁶ bone marrow cells derived from normal mice or from syngeneic chimaeras were transplanted. The slowest growth rate was observed when bone marrow that had been subjected to the most excessive proliferation in the weeks preceding the experiment was transplanted.