Impaired HSC retention of primitive HSCs in GPC3^−/− BM resulting in a higher proportion of circulating HSPCs. (A) Flow cytometric analysis to assess the proportion of primitive HSCs and hematopoietic progenitors in WT (top panel) and GPC3^−/− (bottom panel) mice BM. Lin⁻c-kit⁺ cells (hematopoietic progenitors) were gated and analyzed for Sca-1⁺CD150⁺ cells (primitive HSCs). (B) The proportion of hematopoietic progenitors and primitive HSCs in WT and GPC3^−/− BM was compared. (C) Cell-cycle analysis of gated Lin⁻ (left) and KLS (right) cells from BM of WT and GPC3^−/− cells. (D) Comparison of the number of KLS cells in peripheral blood of WT, GPC1^−/−, and GPC3^−/− mice by flow cytometry. (E) Comparison of the circulating hematopoietic progenitors in WT, GPC1^−/−, and GPC3^−/− mice by CFC assay. n = 8-12; *P < .05.