The effect of periodic starvation on bone-marrow cells from animals of various ages

Abstract

At present, little is known of what happens to bone-marrow cells under caloric restriction or periodic starvation. The aim of the study was to investigate the influence of periodic starvation on the proliferative potential and cell morphology of the heterogeneous bone-marrow pool of young and old rats. Periodic starvation reduced the number of bone-marrow cells independently of the animal age, but did not affect cell viability and morphology. In young rats, periodic starvation increased the proportion of differentiated cells in the bone-marrow population; in old animals, it increased the number of undifferentiated blasts and blood-cell precursors. Bone-marrow cell cultivation was accompanied with reduced cell heterogeneity. Periodic starvation increased proliferative potential of bone-marrow cells from old rats. This suggests that periodic starvation at late stages of ontogenesis has an antiaging effect on bone-marrow cells in vivo and in vitro.