BACKGROUND: Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) has been considered as an effective approach at inducing allogeneic hematopoietic reconstitution and immune tolerance. However, it remains critical to find the optimal HSCT delivery method and robust sources of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs).

MATERIAL AND METHODS: We introduced a new method by infusing allogeneic endosteal bone marrow cells (BMCs) harvested from long bones endosteum through intra-bone marrow transplantation (IBBMT) into irradiated mice. Recipient mice that were transplanted with central BMCs or through intravenous bone marrow transplantation (IVBMT) were used as controls (n=6 per group). We compared the new method with each control group for allogeneic HSCs homing pattern, peripheral blood chimerism level, skin allograft survival time, and donor stromal cell percentage in recipient BM. AMD3100 was injected to determine whether chemokine stromal cell-derived factor-1 (CXCL-12) was critical for the new method.

RESULTS: More allogeneic HSCs homed into spleen and bone marrow for the new method as compared to each control group. IBBMT of endosteal BMCs led to a higher peripheral blood chimerism and skin allograft survival. At 18 weeks, donor stromal cell percentage in recipient BMCs was higher for the new method than in each control group. By AMD3100 blockade at day 1, peripheral blood chimerism level and donor stromal cell percentage were significantly reduced as compared to the control group without AMD3100 blockade.

CONCLUSIONS: Our study suggests that IBBMT of endosteal BMCs is an effective approach for HSCT in inducing allogeneic hematopoietic reconstitution. The advantage is dependent upon the early expression of CXCL-12 after bone marrow transplantation.

Keywords: Bone Marrow Cells - cytology, Bone Marrow, Bone Marrow Transplantation - methods, Chemokine CXCL12 - metabolism, Gene Expression Regulation, Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation - methods, Hematopoietic Stem Cells, Immune Tolerance, Polymerase Chain Reaction, Skin Transplantation, Stromal Cells - cytology, Transplantation, Homologous