Ex vivo expansions and transplantations of mouse bone marrow-derived hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells.

To examine the effects of co-culture with bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells on expansion of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells and the capacities of rapid neutrophil engraftment and hematopoietic reconstitution of the expanded cells, we expanded mononuclear cells (MNCs) and CD34+/c-kit+ cells from mouse bone marrow and transplanted the expanded cells into the irradiated mice. MNCs were isolated from mouse bone marrow and CD34+/c-kit+ cells were selected from MNCs by using MoFlo Cell Sorter. MNCs and CD34+/c-kit+ cells were co-cultured with mouse bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) under a two-step expansion.