Megakaryocytopoiesis in experimentally induced immune thrombocytopenia.

l)ocvtopenia both in animals and humans. 4 Evidence was subsequently presented, using the fluorescent antibody technique, that platelet antibody could often l)C found in the bone marrow, selectively attached to the surface of the megakaryocytes.5 ’ The hypothesis that in immune thrombocytopenia an antibody-mediated injury to the niegakaryocytes can, in part, be responsible for the low platelet count SCCITIS acceptable, especially in view of the lack of evidence for increased platelet Production iii However, opposing points of view still (‘XiSt. Thus, the morphologic alterations of the megakaryocytes seen in immune thrombocytopenia have been interpreted as an expression of immaturity of these cells which have become abundant in an attempt to compensate for the increased rate of peripheral platelet destruction.13 Furthermore, from data ol)taillcd with platelet survival studies in patients with I.T.P., recent investigators have concluded that in immune thrombocytopenia the marrow mega-