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We evaluated the effects of 16,16-dimethyl prostaglandin E2 (dm-PGE2), with and without syngeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) on the survival and hematopoietic recovery of mice given 14-20 Gy total body irradiation (TBI). Survival of mice given combined dm-PGE2 and BMT was improved significantly over that of mice given either treatment alone. The 30-day survival after 14, 15, 16 or 18 Gy TBI for combined treatment was 97, 90, 20 or 10 percent, respectively. The corresponding 30-day survival rates for mice given BMT alone were 69, 60, 7 or 0 percent, respectively. For dm-PGE2 alone, 30-day survival was 63, 20, 10 or 0 percent, respectively. Deaths in both dm-PGE2 treated groups generally occurred after day 10 whereas deaths in the BMT group occurred before day 10. All irradiated controls were dead on or before day 10; after larger doses, deaths clustered around day 5. After 20 Gy TBI, all mice in all groups were dead by day 7. Studies of white blood cell recovery 1-9 days after 14 Gy TBI showed improvement with BMT, whereas dm-PGE2 did not enhance recovery. Nucleated cells per humerus, spleen weight, and spleen iron uptake (erythropoiesis) were also improved by BMT but not dm-PGE2.