Bone marrow cell culturing in double diffusion chambers.

A double diffusion chamber technique (DDC) has been established. The bone marrow cells (BMC) were cultured in the peritoneal cavity of mice in DDC consisting of 2 compartments separated from one another by a Millipore membrane. One chamber half contained the mouse bone marrow target cells, and the other half (regulator compartment) either medium (control), spleen cells or BMC. In the controls the BMC proliferated rapidly from day 2, and the cell yield on day 7 was reduced by only 20% when compared with single diffusion chambers. Diffusible factors from spleen cells stimulated the growth of CFU-S and CFU-C in the bone marrow, and increased the number of granulocytes and macrophages harvested in 7 day cultures. Conversely, BMC in the regulator compartment depressed granulopoiesis in the other chamber half.