International Journal of Cell Cloning, Vol 1, 92-104, Copyright © 1983 by AlphaMed Press
Ontogeny of granulocyte-macrophage progenitor cells in the human fetus
A Porcellini, A Manna, M Manna, N Talevi, C Delfini, L Moretti and V Rizzoli
The CFU-Gm content of liver, spleen and bone marrow of human fetuses was
determined from the 8th to 28th week of gestational age. The study of
progenitor cells from 43 fetal livers revealed that the CFU-Gm increased
from 8 to 12 weeks, was relatively stable through 16 weeks and thereafter
declined by 22 to 24 weeks. The total number of liver CFU-Gm rose from
10(4) to greater than 10(6) CFU-Gm by the 16th week of gestation and
declined to approximately 4 X 10(5) progenitor cells by 22 to 24 weeks.
Peak values of bone marrow CFU-Gm were noted at 10 to 14 weeks of
gestation. Generally, the numbers of these progenitor cells declined by 16
to 18 weeks; however, several high values were obtained at later times.
Splenic CFU-Gm were relatively constant in number between 12 and 28 weeks
of gestation with no correlation with fetal age. Thus, these studies
indicate that certain fetal tissues contain substantial numbers of
hemopoietic progenitor cells. Based on the quantity of CFU-Gm obtained, it
appears feasible to use fetal liver cells as a source of progenitor cells
for transplantation.
