The characterization of distinct populations of murine skeletal cells that have different roles in B lymphopoiesis

Abstract

Hematopoiesis is extrinsically controlled by cells of the bone marrow microenvironment, including skeletal lineage cells. The identification and subsequent studies of distinct subpopulations of maturing skeletal cells is currently limited because of a lack of methods to isolate these cells. We found that murine Lin–CD31–Sca-1–CD51+ cells can be divided into 4 subpopulations by using flow cytometry based on their expression of the platelet-derived growth factor receptors α and β (PDGFRα and PDGFRβ). The use of different skeletal lineage reporters confirmed the skeletal origin of the 4 populations. Multiplex immunohistochemistry studies revealed that all 4 populations were localized near the g..