Thymocyte involvement in spleen colony formation by subpopulations of hematopoietic stem cells.

ABSTRACT

Murine marrow preparations depleted of stem cells by prior incubation with rabbit, anti-mouse serum show augmented spleen colony-forming ability when exposed to fresh thymocytes. A 2- to 4-fold increase in colonies was observed when marrow-thymocyte interaction occurred under either in vivo or in vitro conditions. Colony augmentation was shown to be independent of both the strain used and the age of the thymocyte donor. In our hands, approximately one-half of the marrow stem cells surviving an exposure to the antiserum appear responsive to thymocyte interaction.