Regulation of proliferation of murine megakaryocyte progenitor cells by cell cycle

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

The extent to which mouse megakaryocyte progenitor cells (colony-forming unit-megakaryocyte, CFU-M) can proliferate in semisolid cultures prior to endomitosis, and conditions that may regulate that differentiation step, were investigated. The proliferative capacity of CFU-M was determined by estimating the number of megakaryocytes per colony. A bimodal distribution was observed (modal values, 10-15 and 25-30 cells/colony), indicating that separate megakaryocyte progenitor cells may be biased in their capacity for proliferation versus endomitosis. Differences were observed in the cell cycle characteristics of CFU-M as determined in vivo and in vitro that suggest that maturation of CFU-M into megakaryocytes may be regulated within the marrow by control of the cell cycle of the megakaryocyte precursor cell.