Specific differentiation events induced by erythropoietin in cells infected in vitro with the anemia strain of Friend virus

M. J. Koury, M. C. Bondurant, D. T. Duncan, S. B. Krantz, W. D. Hankins

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

22 Scopus citations

Abstract

Mouse bone marrow cells infected in vitro with the anemia strain of Friend leukemia virus form large clusters (bursts) of erythroblasts after 5 days in culture in methylcellulose medium. Two types of erythroblast population can be isolated from bursts of infected cell by manipulation of the culture conditions. One type of erythroblast, which is obtained when erythropoietin (EP) is added to the culture, has proliferated and undergoes differentiation to become an erythrocyte. The second type of erythroblast, which is obtained when no EP is added to the culture, is the product of extensive proliferation, but it fails to undergo the terminal stages of erythroblast differentiation. Comparisons of these two types of erythroblasts demonstrate that specific EP effects include change in the nucleus, cytoplasm, and membrane of the treated cells. Those events of erythroid differentiation shown to be directed by EP were extrusion of the nucleus from the erythroblast, induction of uroporphyrinogen I synthetase activity, increased iron incorporation into protoporphyrin, synthesis of α- and β-globin polypeptides due largely to increased mRNA production, and synthesis and incorporation of spectrin into the cell membrane. In this system, EP promotes these effects without observable stimulation of progenitor proliferation in addition to that caused by the virus alone. Thus, the role of EP in terminal erythrocyte differentiation is not simply that of an erythroid-specific mitogen.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)635-639
Number of pages5
JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume79
Issue number2 I
DOIs
StatePublished - 1982
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Genetics
  • General

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