A two-step procedure for obtaining 80-fold enriched suspensions of murine pluripotent hemopoietic stem cells

A method to enrich for murine pluripotent hemopoietic stem cells is described. It consists of two steps. Cells with a density of less than 1.072 g/cm3 at 4 degrees C are first selected from mouse bone marrow by a single-step bovine serum albumin density separation. These low-density cells are then labeled with fluoresceinated wheat germ lectin and sorted by a light-activated cell sorter on the basis of differences in light scatter and fluorescence intensities. Numbers of pluripotent stem cells were determined by the spleen colony assaY (CFU-S). The concentration of CFU-S was 80 times higher in the sorted cell suspension than in the unfractionated control.