THE INFLUENCE OF DIETARY PROTEIN DEFICIENCY ON HAEMOPOIETIC CELLS IN THE MOUSE

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Abstract
The effect of a protein (4% by weight) limited diet was examined in the hemopoietic stem cells of mice. Severe restrictions on growth and cell proliferation were reflected in lower numbers of colony forming units (CFUs) and in vitro colony forming cells (CFCs). Differences were apparent in the response of different organs to this stress; for instance, the incidence of spleen CFUs fell sharply from around 40/mg spleen tissue to 1.4/mg spleen tissue after 3 wk on a low protein diet. This selective loss did not occur in bone marrow where total CFUs remained proportional to cellular content. Although the numbers were low in thymus CFUs, these increased from 16/thymus in normal mice to 132/thymus in deprived mice which was the only increase shown. The effects of a return to a high protein (18%) diet showed that the spleen was the most responsive organ. By day 5 after the return to 18% protein the spleen contained as many CFUs per million cells as the bone marrow. During this time the content of CFU in the spleen had increased some 50-fold; bone marrow CFUs only doubled. The spleen assumes the major reconstitutive role during the refeeding process.