[Hematopoietic precursor cells in Wistar rats with acute myeloblastic leukemia]

The studies were performed on Wistar rats with acute myeloblastic leukemia induced by a prolonged administration of tritiated water (370 MBq/kg/day-1; an absorbed dose--25.3 Gy) and by repeated pyrogenal injections. A reduction of the pool of polypotent hemopoietic cells (CFUs) with a simultaneous increase of their proliferative activity and a decline of their ability to self-supporting were observed in the leukemia-bearing animals. Populations of CFUdc in DC and of CFUc were reduced in all cases; their colony-forming ability was also found to decrease. All animals with leukemia showed a lowered amount of CFU-BL in the bone marrow and of CFU-TL in the thymus, although the content of these cells in the peripheral blood remained unchanged.