Hemopoietic bone culture in diffusion chambers.

Many experimental arguments make some cellular elements which are present in the hemopoietic bone cavities responsible for the bone marrow microenvironment. Diaphyseal fragments of previously curetted rat femurs were cultivated in vivo in diffusion chambers. Histological examination of the chamber membranes showed the presence of fibroblast-like cells. Their osseous origin was demonstrated by the study of the sexual chromatin. A morphological similarity seems to occur between these cells obtained in vivo and those described in in vitro cultures of hempoietic bone or bone marrow.