Pluripotent hemopoietic stem cells in murine postmortem bone marrow.

Although 12-hours postmortem murine bone marrow cells exhibit extensive degeneration, these cells when infused into irradiated mice produce erythrocytic, granulocytic, megakarocytic and mixed colonies in their spleen. These observations clearly demonstrate the presence of pluripotent hemopoietic stem cells and their proliferative capability in 12-hours postmortem, murine bone marrow. These observations suggest that cadaveric bone marrow transplantation may be possible in patients with hematologic disorders.