Studies on the Experimental Anemia induced by the Anti-Serum of the Bone Marrow. Part 4. The Function of Megakaryocytes in the Bone-Marrow Tissue Culture

The author calculated the number of platelets in the peripheral blood of the guinea pigs given the intraperitoneal injection of bone-marrow anti-serum and determined the fuction of megakaryocytes by performing the tissue culture of the bone marrow from these test animals. The following are the results of the present experiment: 1. By the intraperitoneal injection of the bone-marrow antiserum the number of platelets in the peripheral blood of the test guinea pigs decreases beyond the physiologically normal limit. 2. The intraperitoneal injection of the anti-serum of bone marrow brings about a decrease in the number of megakaryocyte appearance in the bone marrow culture of the test animals as well as the diminution of megakaryocyte function, especially the decrease in the number of megakaryocytes carrying on the separation of platelets by projecting tentacles, and it is believed that this phenomenon is chiefly responsible for the decrease of platelet number in the peripheral blood.