ERYTHROPOIETIC MOUSE SPLEEN - MODEL SYSTEM OF DEVELOPMENT

The mouse erythropoietic spleen developed in response to a phenylhydrazine-induced hemolytic anemia provides an accessible system for the study of the production of globin mRNA as well as the globin chains themselves. It also provides a rich source for isolation of erythroid precursor cells at different stages of maturation. Other metabolic problems of erythroid development can be elucidated using the spleen. These include binding of testosterone during the early phase of erythropoietic development and the existence of a free heme pool in splenic erythroblasts. Finally, the major advantage that the mouse erythropoietic spleen provides is the sheer amount of erythroblast-enriched tissue for subsequent isolation of macromolecules at discrete points in development.