Subpopulations of human peripheral blood cells: analysis of granulocytic progenitor cells by flow cytometry and immunologic surface markers.

Overview

Normal human peripheral blood cells were separated into different populations based upon isopycnic sedimentation, E rosetting, and EAC rosetting. Each population was characterized according to morphology, surface markers, granulocytic colony formation in semi-solid media, and stainable RNA content by acridine orange (AO) flow cytometry. These techniques enrich for a population of cells that is characterized by a lymphoid morphology, a high granulocytic-macrophage progenitor cell cloning efficiency, a lack of surface markers, and a high stainable RNA content not found in the other two populations of peripheral blood lymphocytes (T cells and B cells). The stainable RNA content serves as a new metabolic marker for the population of cells in which the preponderance of granulocytic progenitor cells reside.