Preservation of radiation recovery factor in frozen marrow.

By JOSEPH W. FERREBEE, DANIEm BILLEN, IRENE M. Uitso, WAN CHIN Lu, E. DONNALL THOMAS ANI) CHAIUAES C. CONGDON H IJNIAN BONE MARROW has been colle(’ted fromu fetal and adult cadavers and front biopsy atid surgical specimens amid administered intravemiously to patients without untoward evemst.t Cadaver ntarrow preserved its glycerol at -80 C. for several weeks by the Polge procednmre2 has shown evidence of survival and growth in a heavily irradiated leukemic subject.tm Since doseresponse ratios for marrow survival are difficult to obtain in critically ill patients, an effort to assess the quantitative effect of storage procedures on the viability of human marrow has been made by an indirect approach. In the present report, a close similarity has been shown in the viability of human and rodent marrows stored at low temperature in glycerol, as measured by their rates of DNA synthesis. The parallel effect of storage upon in vivo “seed” value, i.e., the ability to repopulate marrow spaces destroyed by radiation, has been measured by survival rates in lethally irradiated mice injected with stored bone marrow. By analogy, in view of the in vitro similarities mentioned, the data on in vivo “seed” value of stored mouse ntarrow probably apply to human ntarrow as well.