Therapeutic Administration of Recombinant Human Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor Accelerates Hemopoietic Regeneration and Enhances Survival in a Murine Model of Radiation-Induced Myelosuppression

The primary cause of death after radiation exposure is infection resulting from myelosuppression. Because granulocytes play a critical role in host defense against infection and because granulocyte proliferation and differentiation are enhanced by granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), this agent was evaluated for the ability to accelerate hemopoietic regeneration and to enhance survival in irradiated mice. C3H/HeN mice were irradiated and G- CSF or saline was administered on days 3-12, 1-12 or 0-12 post-irradiation. Bone marrow, splenic and peripheral blood cellularity and bone marrow and splenic granulocyte-macrophage progenitor cell recoveries were evaluated in mice exposed to 6.5 Gy. Mice exposed to 8 Gy were evaluated for multipotent hemopoietic stem cell recovery (using endogenous spleen colony-forming units) and enhanced survival. Results demonstrated that therapeutic G-CSF 1) accelerates hemopoietic regeneration after radiation-induced myelosuppression, 2) enhances survival after potentially lethal irradiation and 3) is most effective when initiated 1 h following exposure. Pub. in International Jnl. of Cell Cloning, v8 p107-122 1990.