Flow cytometric analysis of bone marrow leukocytes in neonatal dogs

Dogs represent both an important veterinary species and a convenient model for allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Even though anti-canine CD34 antibodies have recently become available, little is known about hematopoietic lineages in dogs, partially because CD34− cells have been ignored in all analyses performed so far. In this study, we have focused on the bone marrow mononuclear compartment to provide an additional piece of information on the phenotype of CD34+ progenitors and to identify the dominant CD34− population. We have shown that, in contrast to the adults, mature lymphocytes are scarce in neonatal dog bone marrow. Using cross-reactive antibodies against CD79α we have shown that the B lineage of hematopoiesis strongly prevails. CD34+ cells were shown to be positive for MHC class II and SWC3, a member of the signal regulatory protein family.