title: Clonal assay of mast cell progenitors in semi-solid culture with a high seeding efficiency.
abstract: In vitro clonal assay of murine mast cell progenitors was examined in semi-solid culture by using conditioned medium of a murine leukemic T-cell line (STIL-3) as the source of interleukin 3 (IL-3). In soft agar gel, mast cell colonies were formed with a seeding efficiency of 100-200 per 10(5) bone marrow cells, which was much higher than previously reported data. Macrophages were distinguishable from mast cells by their characteristic "foamy" appearance in toluidine blue and May-Grünwald-Giemsa stained preparations and by their capacity to phagocytize carbon particles. Thus, the present method may provide a sensitive assay technique for the quantitative evaluation of mast cell progenitors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Kyoto University, Japan.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sakoda
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tezuka
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Itoh
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sawada
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yoshida
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Uchino
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Mori
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001399:Azure Stains; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells; D002999:Clone Cells; D003114:Colony-Forming Units Assay; D003470:Culture Media; D005260:Female; D008264:Macrophages / Q000166:cytology; D008407:Mast Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D051379:Mice; D014048:Tolonium Chloride
chemical_list: D001399:Azure Stains; D003470:Culture Media; D014048:Tolonium Chloride