Micromethod for colony growth of erythroid and granulocytic cell colonies in glass capillaries.

Mononuclear cells of peripheral blood were cultured in glass capillary tubes under various conditions. The highest number of granulopoietic colonies was found with 5 X 10(4) cells per capillary and 10% conditioned medium. The growth of erythroid colonies did not depend on erythropoietin linearly, but a good correlation was found between the number of cells and the erythropoietin concentration respectively when the single erythroid precursor cells were counted on the slides. The highest yield of erythroid cells was noted at 0.5 U erythropoietin at all cell concentrations.