A new technique for the cytochemical examination of human hemopoietic cells grown in agar gel.

In this paper, a new technique for the cytochemical examination of human hemopoietic cells grown in agar gel is described. All colonies in the agar gel in a plastic dish can be observed as a whole plate preparation after being stained cytochemically. Granulocytes and monocytes/macrophages in a cluster or a colony were easily distinguished from each other by esterase activity in response to naphthol AS-D chloroacetate of alpha-naphthyl acetate. To illustrate this technique's possibilities a time course study on the formation of granulocyte and monocyte/macrophage clusters or colonies from normal marrow cells was performed.