[The colony forming cell and its stimulation--findings in hematological diseases (author's transl)]

In modifying the agar culture technique of mouse bone marrow cells Robinson et al. in 1970 described the in vitro culture of the human colony-forming cell. Since that time a number of data accumulated which markedly improved our knowledge of the regulation of normal and pathological hematopoiesis. A summary of the up-to date results is presented focusing mainly on disturbances of the colony-forming cells in peripheral blood and bone marrow of patients with hematological disorders. Furthermore, the findings on human urinary CSF excretion which exerts an action on mouse bone marrow are discribed. The somewhat contradictory results obtained with different methods are discussed in the light of the actual hypotheses.