Some effects of chemotherapeutic drugs on bone marrow stem cells. I. The long-term effects of phase-specific drugs on mouse bone marrow stem cells.

Two phase-specific drugs, cytosine arabinoside and hydroxyurea, were studied with regard to their effects on various murine hematologic cell compartments of the same mouse. Effects of single and multiple injections of Ara-C were compared. Following a significant decrease in the first few days, and a subsequent overshoot of pluripotential stem cells (CFU-S), colony-forming cells (CFC), bone marrow nucleated cells, and leukocytes, the number of these cells returned to normal values with a time sequence that varied with the cell type. During the 6-month observation period the number of these cells oscillated around control values after both drugs and both types of protocols.