This study investigated the hematologic abnormalities of an infant with propionic acidemia and reversible pancytopenia. Light and electron microscopy of her bone marrow revealed severely disturbed cellular morphology with trilineage dysmyelopoiesis, hemophagocytosis, and numerous multinucleated histiocytes and megakaryocytes. The effects of her serum and of organic acids associated with propionic acidemia were studied on hematopoiesis in vitro. Mouse erythroid (CFU-E) and granulocyte- monocyte colonies (CFU-GM) were assayed by fibrin clot technique; human CFU-GM were grown in agar culture. The infant's serum reduced mouse CFU-E and CFUGM by 43 and 32%, respectively, compared with normal human sera, but had no effect on human CFU-GM in our culture system. Buffered propionic acid caused concentration- dependent inhibition of mouse CFU-E and human CFU-GM over a range reported in sera of acutely ill infants with propionic acidemia. Neither cell viability nor subsequent colony formation was diminished by preincubation of bone marrow cells with propionic acid for 48 h. The three other organic acids studied, tiglic acid, 3-OH propionate, and glycine, did not inhibit growth of mouse CFUE, CFU-GM, or human CFU-GM, and glycine significantly enhanced formation of the latter. Evaluation of the infant's hematologic abnormalities suggests that inhibition of bone marrow proliferation and maturation and, perhaps, shortened red blood cell survival were responsible for her pancytopenia. The studies performed in vitro implicate propionic acid in this hematopoietic dysfunction.