DNA flow cytometric analysis of monogranulocytic colony forming cells from mouse bone marrow in vitro

An adaptation of a previously reported flow cytometric technique is described. This technique was applied to study the DNA distribution of mouse granulocyte-macrophage colony forming cells (GM-CFc) grown in a methyl cellulose culture system. This method involved the collection of cell clusters and colonies from the methyl cellulose culture medium for the subsequent determination of DNA content. The DNA content of the homogeneous GM-CFc suspensions was determined by applying a modification of the propidium iodide staining procedure described by Crissman et al. The relative percentage of cells in G0 + G1, S, and G2 + M stages of the cell cycle was calculated by applying mathematical analysis to the resulting DNA histograms. This method could be useful in studying the effects of drugs on GM-CFc kinetics.