PCR AMPLIFICATION OF SHORT TANDEM REPEAT SEQUENCES ALLOWS SERIAL STUDIES OF CHIMERISM ENGRAFTMENT FOLLOWING BMT IN RODENTS

Animal models of bone marrow transplantation (BMT) allow evaluation of new experimental treatment strategies. One potential strategy involve s the treatment of donor marrow with ultra-violet B light to allow tra nsplantation across histocompatibility boundaries without an increase in graft rejection or graft-versus-host disease. A major requirement f or a new experimental protocol, particularly if it involves manipulati on of the donor marrow, is that the manipulated marrow gives rise to l ong-term multilineage engraftment. DNA based methodologies are now rou tinely used by many centres to evaluate engraftment and degree of chim aerism post-BMT in humans, We report the adaptation of this methodolog y to the serial study of engraftment in rodents. Conditions have been defined which allow analysis of serial tail vein samples using PCR of short tandem repeat sequences (STR-PCR). These markers have been used to evaluate the contribution of ultraviolet B treated marrow to engraf tment following BMT in rodents without compromising the health of the animals under study. Chimaerism data from sequential tail vein samples and bone marrow from selected sacrificed animals showed excellent cor relation, thus confirming the validity of this approach in analysing h aemopoietic tissue, Thus the use of this assay may facilitate experime ntal studies in animal BMT.