Utilization of a Bone Marrow Suspension Culture System for the Analysis and Manipulation of T-Cell Development

Abstract

In an attempt to simplify the study and manipulation of T-cell development, many have examined the ability of cells to differentiate in a bone marrow suspension culture. Several years ago, it was reported that bone marrow cells generated T-cell markers and function following a short term incubation with thymosin or agents of non-thymic origin such as poly A:U (Scheid 1973). Subsequent reports from numerous other laboratories also indicated a generation of T-cell function from immature populations in various suspension culture systems. It was difficult, however, to prove that differentiating cells were indeed responsible for the T-cell activity. An alternative possibility was that a small number of mature T-cells contaminated the starting cultures and that these rare cells expanded in number to account for the T-cell function.