GROWTH OF STEM CELL CONCENTRATES IN DIFFUSION CHAMBERS (DC)

The growth in diffusion chamber (DC) of normal murine marrow and marrow separated by discontinuous albumin centrifugation was studied. The colony-forming cells (CFC) assayed in soft agar, total cell counts and differentials were measured in the DC over a 19 day period after intraperitoneal implantation into CF₁ mice. Growth of implants of normal marrow or fraction 3 (F3) in which CFC had been concentrated 1.7–3.9-fold were compared at an initial cell concentration of 1 × 10⁵. There was a good correlation between the number of CFC implanted with granulocyte production but not with macrophage production. When higher cell concentrations of normal unfractionated marrow were implanted growth was reduced as was recovery of CFC. In two experiments in which both CFU and CFC concentrations were measured there was a general correlation between the two.