USE OF A LICENSED ELECTROLYTE SOLUTION AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO TISSUE-CULTURE MEDIUM FOR BONE-MARROW COLLECTION

Bone marrow for transplantation is traditionally collected into tissue culture medium with heparin. A licensed electrolyte solution (Plasma- Lyte A [PLA]) was used as a substitute for tissue culture medium in th e harvesting of 28 bone marrows, 17 autologous and 11 allogeneic, whic h were subsequently transplanted. Data that were analyzed from the 25 evaluable patients consisted of the numbers of cells and colony-formin g units in the transplanted marrow as well as the time to neutrophil a nd platelet engraftment. These results were compared with those in the 30 (26 evaluable) preceding transplanted marrows that were collected into a tissue culture medium (RPMI-1640 [RPMI]). The autologous marrow transplant patients in both the PLA and RPMI groups reached a neutrop hil count of greater-than-or-equal-to 0.5 x 10(9) per L a mean of 19 d ays following transplantation. The patients who underwent transplantat ion with allogeneic bone marrow collected in RPMI achieved greater-tha n-or-equal-to 0.5 x 10(9) per L of neutrophils an average of 20 days f ollowing transplantation, while those who received marrow collected in PLA achieved engraftment of neutrophils to that level in a mean of 21 days. Because in vitro and in vivo results with RPMI and PLA are simi lar in this study, further work using a licensed solution for clinical bone marrow transplantation is indicated.