Fraction of pluripotent hemopoietic stem cells in DNA synthesis varies with generation age.

The fraction of pluripotent hemopoietic stem cell (CFU-S) in DNA synthesis (S phase) was evaluated for day 7 through 13-spleen colonies. The CFU-S in S phase in normal bone marrow decreased progressively, from 43% on day 7, to 23% on day 11, and 4% on day 13. The cycling fraction of 5-fluorouracil (5FU)-treated CFU-S was also evaluated. The S phase fraction for CFU-S surviving 5FU was 100.0, 58.8, 54.7, and 25.6% at day 7, 9, 11, and 13, respectively, and the proportion of the fraction also was not constant. The S phase fraction for CFU-S surviving 5FU was much higher than that for normal bone marrow cells; this might be attributed to the extensive regenerating ability of CFU-S surviving 5-FU. The results obtained suggest that a stem cell population in S-phase may exhibit a hierarchy based on the "generation-age hypothesis" (Rosendaal, Hodgson, and Bradley 1979) of the stem cell compartment.