Preservation of granulopoietic precursors in nonfrozen, stored human bone marrow

We have examined procedures for maintaining human bone marrow in a viable state for a period of 1 to 3 days. Various fractionation methods and environmental conditions were compared, and these results indicate that unfractionated, washed bone marrow cells stored at 25 C in a CO2-charged incubator gave the highest total recovery of granulopoietic stem cells capable of colony formation in vitro. After 24- and 48-hr incubation, a mean of 93 and 89% were preserved. Room temperature storage of bone marrow may have clinical applicability in autologous marrow infusion after high-dose chemoradiotherapy.