The hematopoietic stem cell compartments in mice during and after long-term inhalation of three doses of benzene.

Female BDF1 mice were exposed for 16 weeks to airborne concentrations of 100, 300, and 900 ppm of benzene, 6 h per day, 5 days per week. Bone marrow hemopoietic stem cell compartments and peripheral blood cell counts were studied using clonal assays and standard methods. Dose-dependent depressive effects were observed on all stem cell compartments. Only the erythroid colony-forming units (CFU-E) compartment was depressed during exposures to 100 ppm; CFU-E were more sensitive than the erythroid burst-forming units (BFU-E), spleen CFU (CFU-S), or G-M CFU (CFU-C) during exposure to 300 ppm or 900 ppm. Lymphocytopenia was observed in the peripheral blood. After benzene-free intervals, a regeneration of lymphocyte numbers and slow normalization of stem cell numbers was seen. Complete recovery from the 16 weeks exposure to 300 ppm was seen between 73 and 185 days.