Morphometric analysis of bone marrow sinus cell elements after induction of monomyelocytic leukemia in BALB/c mice

Morphometric measurements of bone marrow sinus wall adventitial and endothelial cells were made in normal and leukemic samples by using a Bioquant II computer image analysis program (R & M Biometrics, Nashville TN). Electron micrographs of bone marrow from at least eight mice per group were studied in normal and day-2, day-4, and day-6 leukemic postinoculation groups. The adventitial cells abuting the sinus endothelium was found to be significantly reduced with disease progression. In addition, adventitial cell area and perimeter were found to be drastically reduced with disease progression whereas endothelial cell area and perimeter showed no significant differences. Other investigators have suggested that the marrow sinus adventitial cell cover is drastically reduced in rodent leukemias (Chen et al.; Blood, 39:99-112, 1972; Campbell; Am. J. Anat., 142:319-334, 1975). Our findings give quantitative data to support this hypothesis.