Transplantation of Anaemic Mice of the W-Series with Haemopoietic Tissue bearing Marker Chromosomes

Abstract

THE W gene of the house mouse has several effects, one of which is to cause an anaemia. This is present in the foetus and throughout the life of the affected individual¹. In the homozygous state the viable allele, W^v, produces a severe normochromic, macrocytic anaemia. In the heterozygote (W^vw) the alleles are co-dominant and there is a mild form of the anaemia. Bernstein and Russell² first observed that the homozygous anaemics could be permanently cured by the transplantation of syngeneic normal haemopoietic tissue. They assumed that the injected cells had implanted and were functioning according to their own genotype. Seller and Polani³ obtained the same result using allogeneic tissue, and observed the presence of haemoglobin typical of the donor in the cured individuals⁴. I⁵ also found that the heterozygote anaemics were susceptible to this treatment, and these transplanted animals, too, bore donor haemoglobin.