Production of Humoral Factors That Stimulate Spleen Colony-Forming Units in Mice Irradiated with Moderate Doses of X Rays

The production of humoral factors that stimulate spleen colony-forming units (CFU-S) has been studied in irradiated mice using an in vivo diffusion chamber assay. The experiments show that a significant release of factors that stimulate CFU-S takes place in the first few days after irradiation with moderate doses of 1.5 or 5 Gy. In contrast, the release of significant amounts of these humoral factors was not seen in animals irradiated with either low (0.75 Gy) or high (10 Gy) doses of X rays. The correlation observed between the production of factors that stimulate the CFU-S and the hemopoietic regeneration kinetics of the irradiated mice suggests that these factors represent part of the physiological regulators controlling the proliferation of CFU-S.