[Culture of human bone marrow. Counts of colony forming granulocytes and macrophages in 100 patients without hematologic diseases].

Bone marrow suspensions from non hematologic patients have been cultured in methyl cellulose, with conditioned medium prepared with normal peripheral blood cells. The granulocytic-monocytic colony forming cell (G-CFC) can give rise to colonies, which were counted on the 14th day. The mean G-CFC number is 38 +/- 26 when 2.10(5) cells are cultured. The striking disparity from one patient to an other cannot be explained by the culture conditions, nor by the clinical status. There is no sex difference; older patients have a significant reduction of the colony numbers compared to younger patients.