DECREASED BLOOD-FLOW TO RAT BONE-MARROW, BONE, SPLEEN, AND LIVER IN ACUTE-LEUKEMIA

An acute promyelocytic leukemia in the rat (BNML) has been used in mod el studies on pathogenesis and therapy of human acute myeloid leukemia . The blood supply to bone marrow during BNML development has hitherto not been examined, even though in general, blood flow to hematopoieti c tissues might affect drug treatment and marrow transplantation regim es. We measured the perfusion of various organs during the course of t he disease in untreated rats and in rats given one injection of cyclop hosphamide treatment. Organ perfusion was measured with radioactive mi crospheres. Blood flow per gram tissue to the bone marrow, bone, splee n, and liver declined gradually during the leukemic progression, thus paralleling the growth of leukemic deposits. Cyclophosphamide treatmen t retarded, but did not reverse, the decreasing perfusion of these tis sues.