The relationship between erythropoietin-dependent cellular differentiation and colony-forming ability in prenatal haemopoietic tissues.

Levels of haem synthesis achieved by foetal liver erythroblasts responding to erythropoietin in vitro are similar in dissociated cell cultures and in cultures of organized tissues. Erythroid colony-forming cells reach maximum numbers on the sixteenth day of gestation. Their presence in foetal liver is associated with the period of most rapid production of erythrocytes, and with in vitro sensitivity to erythropoietin measured as enhanced haem synthesis. It is concluded that at least a proportion of erythroid colony-forming cells in the foetal liver are dependent on erythropoietin in situ and that these cells are separated from the earliest recognizable pro-erythroblast by 1-2 cell divisions. Populations of granulocyte-macrophage colony-forming cells change independently of erythroid colony-forming cell numbers.