title: Botrocetin agglutination of rat megakaryocytes: a rapid method for megakaryocyte isolation.
abstract: Botrocetin isolated from the venom of Bothrops jaracara has been shown by others to induce binding of von Willebrand Factor to glycoprotein Ib and thereby produce platelet agglutination in a wide range of animal species. We have found that botrocetin also facilitates the agglutination of megakaryocytes and have used this property to develop a method to isolate megakaryocytes from rat bone marrow. When botrocetin is added to a mixture of rat bone marrow, rat platelets, and rat plasma, coagglutination of megakaryocytes and platelets occurs. The agglutinated complexes, containing > 95% of the megakaryocytes, may then be separated from the remaining marrow cells by filtration. Megakaryocytes account for 39% (range 30%-48%) of the isolated cells and 83% (range 77%-88%) of the isolated cell mass. This method allows the virtually complete removal of megakaryocytes from bone marrow as well as their isolation to a high degree of purity. It should provide a useful, inexpensive, general method for the rapid isolation of megakaryocytes from multiple, small marrow samples from a wide range of species.
authors: Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston.
authors: D J
authors: DJ
authors: Kuter
authors: D
authors: D
authors: Gminski
authors: R D
authors: RD
authors: Rosenberg
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001792:Blood Platelets / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000187:drug effects; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells; D002469:Cell Separation / Q000379:methods*; D003435:Crotalid Venoms / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000494:pharmacology; D006384:Hemagglutination / Q000187:drug effects; D008297:Male; D008533:Megakaryocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
chemical_list: D003435:Crotalid Venoms; C030961:botrocetin