Polyploid megakaryocytes can complete cytokinesis

Megakaryocytes (MK) undergo polyploidization through endomitosis, a mitotic process that ends prematurely due to aborted cytokinesis. To better understand this and other events associated with MK differentiation, we performed long-term and large-field live cell imaging of human MKs derived in cord blood (CB) and bone marrow (BM) CD34(+) cell cultures. Polyploid level of imaged cells was evaluated using three complementary approaches; cell history, cell size and ploidy correlation and nuclei staining. This system and strategy enabled the direct observation of the development of a large number of MKs (n = 4,865) and to quantify their fates. The most significant finding of this study is that a considerable proportion of polyploid MKs could complete cytokinesis. This unexpected process gave rise to polyploid daughter cell(s) with normal fates and contributed significantly to the expansion of polyploid MKs. Further analyses revealed that the proliferation rate amongst polyploid MKs was inversely correlated to their ploidy level, and that this phenomenon was much more frequent in CB-than BM-derived MKs. Accordingly, endomitosis was identified as the dominant fate of polyploid BM-MKs, while this was less accentuated for polyploid CB-MKs. These findings explain partially why CB-derived MKs remain in lower ploidy class. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that the development of polyploid MK results from the failure and/or success of cytokinesis and brings a new paradigm to the field of megakaryopoiesis.