Abstract

Adipose tissue is an integral structural component of normal rabbit marrow and is believed to behave primarily as a cushion in response to hemopoietic proliferation, accomodating to changes in hemopoiesis by change in either size or number or both of the fat cells in order to maintain constancy of the marrow volume. To test this hypothesis, aplasia of the right femur of New Zealand white rabbits was induced by x-irradiation with 8000 rads; the left unirradiated limb served as control. Twenty-four hours before sacrifice 50 μCi of palmitate-114C was administered intravenously and the marrow of both femurs removed. Samples of perinephric fat were taken for comparison. Fat cell volume, C14 palmitate turnover and fatty acid composition were determined. The total number of fat cells in the entire marrow of both femurs was calculated. The measurements showed no difference in size or fatty acid turnover of the fat cells in the irradiated aplastic marrow from the cells of the control marrow. The number of fat cells in both the irradiated and the unirradiated control femurs was essentially the same. These findings do not support the view that marrow fat cells respond to diminished hematopoiesis by either increase in their volume or number. In addition, the findings suggest that both marrow and subcutaneous fat cells are fairly resistant to high doses of x-ray irradiation.

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