A comparative study of bone marrow GM-CFU-C culture in patients with aplastic anemia and idiopathic neutropenia

Bone marrow GH-CFU-C and resum colony stimulating activity （CSA） were assayed in 33 patients with chronic aplastic anemia （AA） and 16 patients with idiopathic neutropeuia （IN）. The mean bone marrow GM-CFU-C in 55 normal bone marrow samples was 106.6+8.4, but much lower in 32/33 （97%） patients with AA and 5/16（31.3%） patients suffering from IN: Suggesting that these patients had GM-CFU abnormality both in quantity and quality. However, the serum CSA elevated markedly in all IN patients and most AA patients; but normal in patients with iron deficiency anemia and anemia of renal diseases. The above fact may indicate that there were iron some similarities in their pathogenesis. According to these data, there seems to be two types of IN, one with reduced GM-CFU-C and the other with normal GM-CFU-C. CM-CFU-C assay may be useful in classification of IN.