Responsiveness to recombinant human erythropoietin of marrow erythroid progenitors from infants with the “anemia of prematurity”1

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We used cells from marrow aspirations that had been performed on 10 infants with the “anemia of prematurity” and tested the responsiveness of their erythroid colony-forming units (CFU-E) to recombinant human erythropoletin. For comparison, we also tested marrow-derived CFU-E from five healthy adults, and circulating CFU-E from cord blood of five healthy neonates. CFU-E from the anemic infants had a 50% maximal response at 0.073±0.024 U erythropoletin per milliliter (mean ± SD). They were therefore at least as responsive as were CFU-E from adults, which displayed a 50% maximal response at 0.118±0.076 U/ml, and as were circulating CFU-E of cord blood origin, which had a 50% maximal response at 0.109±0.047 U/ml. Because CFU-E from infants with the “anemia of prematurity” appeared highly sensitive to erythropoietin in vitro, we propose that its administration to these patients would likely result in a significant increase in erythrocyte production in vivo.

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    Supported by grant HD-220830 from the National Institutes of Health.

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