Fetal hemoglobin synthesis in vivo: direct evidence for control at the level of erythroid progenitors.

To test directly whether the control of fetal hemoglobin (HbF) in the adult takes place at the level of erythroid progenitors or at the level of erythroblasts, we treated animals with high doses of erythropoietin and examined the effects of this manipulation on the globin gene programs of erythroid progenitors. We found that administration of erythropoietin produced a rapid expansion of all classes of erythroid progenitors. Almost all the expansion of colony-forming units-erythroid and 46-56% of erythroid clusters was due to the increase of HbF-programmed erythroid progenitors. The expansion of HbF-programmed erythroid progenitors was followed, 2-3 days later, by a wave of reticulocytes containing HbF in the peripheral blood. These results provide direct in vivo evidence that fetal-globin expression in the adult is controlled at the level of erythroid progenitors.