Independence of megakaryocyte number and size in long-term cultures of normal mouse marrow.

Megakaryocytopoiesis was evaluated in long-term cultures of normal murine marrow to determine whether the number and size of megakaryocytes were independent or interdependent. Numbers of megakaryocytes and granulocytes varied widely in different experiments, due, in part, to varying concentrations of hydrocortisone in the culture medium. The sizes of acetylcholinesterase-positive cells were the same in cultures with as much as a 20-fold difference in megakaryocyte numbers. These results indicate that, in the closed culture system containing normal stromal cells, megakaryocyte size and number are not reciprocal as they were in many previously reported cultures of S1/S1d mouse marrow. The results suggest that separate stromal functions may determine precursor cell proliferation and nuclear endomitosis in megakaryocytes in vitro. The relationship of these findings to regulation of megakaryocytopoiesis in vivo remains speculative.