Erythropoietin levels in heterozygous beta-thalassemia.

In the present work the capacity of serum of beta-thalassemic heterozygous and normal subjects to stimulate 59Fe uptake into heme in guinea pig bone marrow cultures is analyzed. The results show that labelled iron uptake is higher in cultures with thalassemic serum than in cultures with normal serum. No correlation between labelled iron uptake and Hb level or sex has been found in either group.