This article reviews the regulation of production of red blood cells at several levels: (1) the ability of erythropoietin and adhesion to a fibronectin matrix to stimulate the rapid production of red cells by inducing terminal proliferation and differentiation of committed erythroid CFU-E progenitors; (2) the regulated expansion of the pool of earlier BFU-E erythroid progenitors by glucocortico...

Purified murine colony-stimulating factors (CSF) recombinant interleukin 3 (IL-3), natural CSF-1, and recombinant granulocyte-macrophage (GM) CSF were assessed in vivo for their effects on BDF, mouse bone marrow and spleen granulocyte-macrophage (CFU-GM), erythroid (BFU-E), and multipotential (CFU-GEMM) progenitor cells in untreated mice and in mice pretreated with purified iron-saturated human...

There is an antigen on mouse brain tissue which is shared by the hemopoietic colony-forming unit or stem cell of the mouse. Treatment of bone marrow or fetal liver cells with anti-brain antisera inhibits expression of colony-forming units. The anti-stem cell antibody is not absorbed by thymus cells and thus can be distinguished from the anti-thymocyte antibody which these antisera also contain.

The study of hematopoietic colony-forming units using semisolid culture media has greatly advanced the knowledge of hematopoiesis. Here we report that similar methods can be used to study pancreatic colony-forming units. We have developed two pancreatic colony assays that enable quantitative and functional analyses of progenitor-like cells isolated from dissociated adult (2-4 mo old) murine pan...

B cell stimulatory factor-1 (BSF-1)/Interleukin 4 (IL 4) is a T cell product originally characterized on the basis of its actions on B lymphocytes. Recently it has been reported that BSF-1 activates T cell and mast cell lines. We now provide evidence that BSF-1, purified to homogeneity, also has a broad spectrum of activity on hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPC). However, like its action on B ...

Iron deficiency is common, especially among young women. Adding probiotics to foods could be one way to increase iron absorption. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that non-haem iron absorption from a fruit drink is improved by adding Lactobacillus plantarum 299v (Lp299v). Iron absorption was studied in healthy women of reproductive age using a single-blind cross-over design in t...