title: Long-term culture-initiating cell assay for mouse cells.
abstract: The long-term culture-initiating cell (LTC-IC) assay is a well-established in vitro assay used to enumerate primitive mouse hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and relies on the two cardinal functions of HSCs: ability to self-renew and differentiation capacity. LTC-ICs present in minimally processed and purified cell suspensions and cocultured on a supportive feeder layer are detected by their sustained ability to produce hematopoietic progenitors (colony forming cells) after ≥ 4 weeks in culture. Refinements including the use of a defined stromal cell line, and extending the in vitro culture to 6 weeks allow detection of LTC-IC at similar frequencies to transplantable HSCs quantified using in vivo assays.
authors.affiliation: Terry Fox Laboratory, BC Cancer Agency, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Woehrer
authors.forename: Cindy L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Connie J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Eaves
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D002460:Cell Line; D003114:Colony-Forming Units Assay / Q000379:methods*; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL