agar and Polycythemia-Vera

The in vitro cloning of haemopoietic precursors is a rapidly growing field. The data reviewed above and the current practical applications of the techniques can be expected to increase quite rapidly in the next decade. Despite the technical problems of tissue culture and the special problems associated with culturing human cells, it is clear that these procedures can be effectively applied at the clinical level. The value of the data obtained will vary directly with the quality of the culture techniques. Any centre undertaking these techniques must be prepared to properly equip the culture laboratory, appoint a full-time staff member for the work and maintain a constant surveillance of the quality of the culture work.

Topics: Agar; Anemia, Aplastic; Cells, Cultured; Colony-Forming Units Assay; Colony-Stimulating Factors; Culture Media; Granulocytes; Hematopoietic Stem Cells; Humans; Leukemia, Myeloid; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute; Monocytes; Myeloproliferative Disorders; Polycythemia Vera; Preleukemia; Primary Myelofibrosis; Time Factors

Growth of human erythroid cells in soft-agar culture with no added erythropoietin was demonstrated. This growth was particularly marked in patients with diseases such as myelofibrosis (MF) in which patients had a previous history of polycythaemia vera (PV) characterized by excessive red cell production. A rapid assessment of the proportion of erythroid colonies was obtained by directly staining the culture with benzidine. Fixed and stained preparations of these agar-grown cells revealed elements in all stages of erythroid maturation. The morphology of these erythroid colonies was characteristic of 'erythroblastic islands' containing central, iron-containing macrophages, surrounded by erythrocytic precursors, with the more mature erythrocytes found at the periphery of the colony. These observations document that erythropoiesis may be maintained in agar cultures, and suggest that this technique may be of diagnostic value in disease states characterized by abnormalities of red cell production.

Topics: Agar; Bone Marrow; Bone Marrow Cells; Cell Division; Cells, Cultured; Clone Cells; Erythropoiesis; Humans; Polycythemia Vera; Primary Myelofibrosis