A deficiency of hematopoietic stem cells in steel mice.

In the present study, population sizes of high self-renewal potential stem cells, i.e. colony forming units (CFU), and low self-renewal potential stem cells, i.e. transient endogenous colony forming units (TE-CFU) in Sl/Sld mice and their normal congenic littermates were measured and compared. By correcting for differences in the seeding efficiency 'f', it was possible to demonstrate that Sl/Sld mice suffer a deficiency of both stem cell populations. Therefore, it is concluded that the defective stromal tissue of the Sl/Sld mouse does not support normal size stem cell populations. However, as noted in the discussion, it remains an open question as to whether the defective stromal tissue supports normal erythroid differentiation at the stem cell level.