Mesenchymal Progenitor Cells in Red and Yellow Bone Marrow

Gurevitch, Olga; Slavin, S.; Resnick, I.; Khitrin, S.; Feldman, A.

doi:10.14712/fb2009055010027

Folia Biologica > Archive > 2009, Vol. 55 > Issue 1 > Mesenchymal Progenitor Cells in Red and…

Fol. Biol. 2009, 55, 27-34

https://doi.org/10.14712/fb2009055010027

Mesenchymal Progenitor Cells in Red and Yellow Bone Marrow

Olga Gurevitch¹, S. Slavin², I. Resnick¹, S. Khitrin², A. Feldman³

¹Department of Bone Marrow Transplantation, Cancer Immunotherapy & Immunobiology Research Center, Hadassah University Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel
²The International Center for Cell Therapy & Cancer at the Tel Aviv (Sourasky) Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel
³Neurological Science Research Center, Department of Physiology, University of Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Received November 2008
Accepted January 2009

Marrow cavities in all bones of newborn mammals contain haematopoietic tissue and stromal microenvironment that support haematopoiesis (haematopoietic microenvironment), known as red bone marrow (BM). From the early postnatal period onwards, the haematopoietic microenvironment, mainly in tubular bones of the extremities, is replaced by mesenchymal cells that accumulate lipid drops, known as yellow BM, whereas haematopoietic tissue gradually disappears. We analysed the ability of mesenchymal cell progenitors in red and yellow BM to produce bone and haematopoietic microenvironment in vivo after transplantation into normal or haematopoietically deficient (irradiated and old) recipients. We found that (1) normal substitution of red with yellow BM results from a gradual loss of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) capable of developing bone and haematopoietic microenvironment; (2) the mesenchymal cell population in tubular bones still containing active haematopoietic tissue gradually becomes depleted of MSCs, starting from a young age; (3) haematopoietic microenvironment is incapable of self-maintenance and its renewal depends on the presence of precursor cells; (4) the mesenchymal cell population remaining in areas with yellow BM contains cells able to develop functionally active haematopoietic microenvironment in conditions of haematopoietic insufficiency. Our data also indicate the possible existence of bi-potential stromal precursor cells producing either bone in normal, or bone together with active haematopoietic microenvironment in irradiated or old recipients. This study opens a spectrum of opportunities for the extension of haematopoietic territories by substituting the fat contents of BM cavities with haematopoietic tissue, thereby improving haematopoiesis compromised by cytotoxic treatments, irradiation, ageing, etc.