Cultivation of human peripheral blood leukocytes in agar gel

The use of a modified method of cloning hematopoietic cells in semisolid nutrient media showed that among human peripheral blood leukocytes there are committed precursor cells of the granulocytic series (CFU_c). In healthy adults and children (aged from 4 days to 10 years) the number of these precursors is 0.05–6.38 and 0.2–2.9/10⁵ nucleated cells respectively. The number of CFU_c in the blood of patients with infectious mononucleosis is within normal limits (0.5–14/10⁵ nucleated cells). In acute leukemia very low colony-forming activity of the nucleated blood cells is found (0–0.3/10⁵ cells).Laboratory of Culture and Transplantation of Bone Marrow, Central Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion. Laboratory of Pediatric Hematology, N. I. Pirogov Second Moscow Medical Institute. (Presented by Academician of the Academy of Medical Sciences, of the USSR N. A. Fedorov.) Translated from Byulleten' Éksperimental'noi Biologii i Meditsiny, Vol. 81, No. 5, pp. 635–636, May, 1976.