Adult skull bone marrow is an expanding and resilient hematopoietic reservoir

Abstract The bone marrow microenvironment is a critical regulator of hematopoietic stem cell self-renewal and fate. While it is appreciated that aging, chronic inflammation and other insults compromise bone marrow function and thereby negatively affect hematopoiesis, it is not known whether different bone compartments exhibit distinct microenvironmental properties and functional resilience. Here, we have employed imaging, pharmacological approaches, and mouse genetics to uncover specialized and highly surprising properties of bone marrow in adult and aging skull. Specifically, we show that the skull bone marrow undergoes lifelong expansion involving vascular growth, which results in an increasing contribution to total hematopoietic output. Furthermore, skull is largely protected against major hallmarks of aging, including upregulation of inflammatory cytokines, adipogenesis and loss of vascular integrity. Striking dynamic and rapid changes to the skull vasculature and bone marrow are induced by physiological alterations, namely pregnancy, but also pathological challenges, such as stroke and experimental chronic myeloid leukemia. These responses are highly distinct from femur, the most extensively studied bone marrow compartment. We propose that skull harbors a protected and dynamically expanding bone marrow microenvironment, which is relevant for experimental studies but, potentially, also clinical treatments in humans.