1997 Volume 183 Issue 2 Pages 113-122
To investigate the possibility of engrafting fetal liver hematopoietic cells by in utero intraperitoneal transplantation, we transplanted donor cells obtained from mouse fetuses at 13, 15 and 17 days of gestation to mouse fetuses at 15, 16 and 17 days of gestation. Engraftment was assessed by Sry gene amplification of DNA extracted from peripheral blood samples of transplanted mice six weeks after birth. In comparison, we performed an in vitro colony-assay of fetal liver cells at 13, 15, and 17 days of gestation. The incidence of engraftment was significantly higher in cells of 15 days of gestation than in cells of 13 or 17 days of gestation, whereas the colony forming activity decreased gradually from 13 to 15 days of gestation. From these results, we suggest that the 15 day liver contains hematopoietic progenitors which have the specific characteristics required for engraftment by intraperitoneal transplantation.
