Effect of prostaglandin A2 on RNA synthesis in embrionic mouse erythroid cells.

Prostaglandin A2 (PGA2) is shown to stimulate RNA synthesis in 12-day embryonic mouse liver cells, thus expressing an erythropoietin-like effect. This effect was found to be dose-dependent. There was no significant difference between the results observed with patients' plasma before and after dialysis and with or without addition of PGA2. Although the baseline activity of RNA synthesis in the presence of uremic plasma is less than that with normal plasma, the almost equal potentiation of RNA synthesis in erythroid cells incubated with both normal and uremic plasma obtained with PGA2 favors a direct, and not an erythropoietin-mediated, effect of this substance.