Aspiration of bone marrow in laboratory animals.

By R. DOROTHY SUNDBERG, PH.D., AND RUTH E. HODGSON, M.S. I NTEREST in obtaining specimens of bone marrow comparable to those aspirated from the human sternum, ilium, or spinous process caused us to devise a technic which we feel is both simple and reliable. Many similar technics have been described, but most of them have not attained wide usage because they have required minor surgical operations. Wolff15 was the first to describe a method of obtaining bone marrow from the femur of small animals or from the tibia of large animals. By drilling two adjacent holes in the cortex of one of the long bones and removing the bony plate between the holes, he could remove a small portion of the marrow with a platinum loop. Basile2 trephined the femur of the dog and made smears from the fluid obtained. Morris and Falconer6 trephined the long bones of rabbits, and, from the core of marrow in the casing of their trephine, were able to make both smears and sections. Although they did not apply their method to a study of the marrow of fowl, they suggested that it might be valuable in research on fowl leukemia. Erf’ punctured the tibia, femur, and humerus of rabbits with a Steinman pin. Then, by replacing the pin with a lumbar tap needle and applying suction as the needle was pushed forward into the medullary cavity, a plug of marrow was sucked into the needle. Imprints and sections were made from this plug. Erf claimed his method would be useful for obtaining marrow from dogs and rats as well as from rabbits. Starkoff,9 by using a small saw, removed a small portion of the posterior surface of the femur of rabbits. After closing the wound and allowing it to heal, he was able to employ this defect in the bone as a site for aspiration of marrow. Kolouch5 obtained consecutive bone marrow biopsies by resecting small portions of the ribs of rabbits. Actual puncture and aspiration technics have also been described. Aspiration of sternal marrow is possible in only some animals. Marrow can be obtained from the