Formation of capillary networks from bone marrow cultured in collagen gel

The growth of capillaries from mouse bone marrow was studied in collagen gel. When the culture contained sufficient bone marrow cells (more than 1 X 10(6) cells) and cell clusters, short capillaries with lumina appeared about one to two weeks after inoculation, following the proliferation of fibroblastic cells and hemopoietic cells. Four weeks after inoculation, these capillaries formed a network among hemopoietic cells and adipocytes. Electron microscopic observations revealed that these capillaries had thin walls and poorly developed basement membranes, similar to the sinusoids of bone marrow. These capillaries did not appear when the amount of inoculated bone marrow was reduced or dispersed to the point that the marrow cell clusters disappeared. The quantity of the inoculum and the clustering of cells, therefore, seems to play important roles in the appearance of the capillaries.