Marrow regeneration after mechanical depletion.

The origin of marrow regeneration after mechanical depletion was reinvestigated in mouse chimeras. The results were compatible with the local origin of stem cells from remnants of incompletely removed marrow, but not with their origin from a common precursor of both bone and hemopoietic cell lines. In transplanted femurs depleted by a modified technique of in vivo evacuation of marrow, hemopoietic regeneration failed to occur. The presence of hemopoietic stem cells in the Haversian canals was thus excluded. The demonstration of ample hemopoiesis with minimal bone formation in nondepleted controls in which bone marrow initially became necrotic provided new evidence that osteogenesis was not a prerequisite of hemopoietic regeneration.