Figure 4.
Inferior competitive long-term repopulating capacity of mpl−/− cells in secondary and tertiary recipients. Contribution to the bone marrow (▵, ▴), spleen (○, •), and thymus (□, ▪) of secondary and tertiary recipients of transplanted bone marrow cells from primary recipient mice that received 2 × 105 wild-type female competitor bone marrow cells mixed with 5 × 104, 2 × 105, or 2 × 106 test cells (test/competitor ratios 0.2, 1, and 10) from male mpl−/− (open symbols) or wild-type (filled symbols) mice. Each point represents the mean percentage of male DNA in the organs of three recipient mice determined by Southern blot analysis. Experiments 1 and 2 involved transplantation of bone marrow cells from independent wild-type and mpl−/− donor mice to the primary recipients. Secondary and tertiary transplant recipients were analyzed 2–3 months after each preceding transplant.