Distribution of 51Cr labeled leukemia cells in mice: comparison with representative normal cells.

Cells of two transplantable leukemias of mice, one myeloid and one lymphoid, were labeled with 51Cr in order to follow their distribution in hemopoietic and parenchymatous organs and blood of syngeneic recipients. Distribution of myeloid leukemia cells was compared with that of regenerating bone marrow cells and normal spleen cells. The organ distribution of myeloid leukemia cells was essentially different from that of cells of regenerating bone marrow, and both were different from that of normal spleen cells. Cells of lymphoid leukemia, which are presumably of B-lymphocyte origin, were compared with a B-lymphocyte enriched population, obtained from the lymph nodes of so-called TIR mice (thymectomized, irradiated, and reconstituted with syngeneic bone marrow), and with spleen cells of normal mice. The three patterns of organ distribution were different. It is concluded that the two leukemias studied each have a specific and characteristic distribution.