Background: A direct chemical toxicity of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) to
hematopoietic progenitor cells has been suggested. However, a recent
study failed to corroborate these earlier findings. Thus, a series of
experiments was undertaken to address this issue. Study Design and Met
hods: Bone marrow was collected from 18 donors and cryopreserved with
10 percent (vol/vol) DMSO. Aliquots of frozen bone marrow were thawed,
diluted with ACD-A to 8 percent (vol/vol) DMSO, and allowed to remain
in DMSO for up to 2 hours before mononuclear cells were plated for co
lony-forming assays. After 14 days in culture, burst-forming units-ery
throid, colony-forming units-granulocyte/macrophage, and colony-formin
g units-granulacyte/erythrocyte/mac rophage/megakaryocyte colonies wer
e enumerated. Results: There was no significant difference (p>0.5) see
n in colony formation over the 2-hour exposure to DMSO. Conclusion: Th
ese results support and extend a previous study that bone marrow hemat
opoietic progenitor cells, including burst-forming units-erythroid, co
lony-forming units-granulocyte/macrophage, and colony-forming s-granul
ocyte/erythrocyte/macrophage/megakaryocyte are resistant to any toxic
effects of 8- to 10-percent (vol/vol) DMSO during at least 2 hours of
DMSO exposure.