Isolation of murine fetal hemopoietic progenitor cells and selective fractionation of various erythroid precursors

Hemopoietic progenitor cells (colony- and cluster-forming cells in semisolid agar) were purified from light density CBA murine fetal liver cells using fluorescein-conjugated pokeweed mitogen (PWM) and a rhodamine-conjugated antineutrophil serum sandwich (alpha N) and three- parameter fluorescence-activated cell sorting. All clonable progenitor cells were highly enriched (36–50-fold) in PWM-positive (greater than channel 15), alpha N-negative (less than channel 30) fractions with relatively high intensity (greater than 100) low angle light scatter. No separation was achieved between different types of progenitor cells (granulocyte-macrophage and erythroid colony-forming cells). The enriched fraction was a pure population of large, basophilic, undifferentiated blast cells, and in agar cultures stimulated with colony-stimulating factors, up to 90% of the enriched cells were hemopoietic progenitor cells capable of varying levels of clonal proliferation. Further fractionation based on increasing fluorescence with PWM separated into discrete populations, nonproliferative morphologically recognizable erythroid cells, late erythroid progenitor cells (day 2 CFU-E), and cells forming pure or mixed erythroid burst colonies. In addition, the majority of pluripotential hemopoietic stem cells (CFU-SS) were clearly separated from progenitor cells forming colonies in vitro. The present techniques provide suitable numbers of enriched progenitor cells for a variety of biological and biochemical studies.