Distribution of Ferrochelatase Activity in Density Gradient Separated Bone Marrow Cells

✍ Scribed by L.T. Ostasiewicz; J. Fleischman; M.B. Pohfitzpatrick

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1993
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 398 KB
• Volume: 213
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0003-2697
• DOI: 10.1006/abio.1993.1437

✦ Synopsis

A simple, reproducible, and economical procedure for separating bone marrow cells into distinct populations and stages of maturation was developed and used to investigate the distribution of ferrochelatase activity in rat bone marrow cells. Density gradient ultracentrifugation of normal rat marrows on discontinuous arabinogalactan layers of (16.5-30.0 %) resulted in six distinct fractions enriched for myeloblasts, neutrophils, pronormoblasts, normoblasts, or lymphocytes. Segregation reflecting different stages of cell development was demonstrated. Neutrophils appeared at a greater density and were clearly separated from precursor myeloblasts. Normoblasts appeared at a greater density and were clearly separated from precursor pronormoblasts. Lymphocyte distribution within the gradient followed a normal curve ((P<0.05)). A single gradient layer which consisted of greater than (80 %) lymphocytes was shown to be associated with significantly increased ((P<0.05)) ferrochelatase specific activity (units/mg protein); the remaining cell populations did not differ significantly from each other in specific activity. 1993 Academic Press, Inc.