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A role for glucocorticosteroids in the evolution of the fetal liver erythron in vivo has been proposed. If direct, such an intervention implies the presence of receptor sites in the cells of the erythroid cell lines. To test this hypothesis cell suspensions were prepared from liver haematopoietic tissue obtained from rat fetuses aged 13, 14, 17 and 20 days. Their composition was determined by light microscopy. The populations consisted essentially of cells of the erythroid line: juvenile cell types (progenitor and basophilic cells) predominated in tissue collected at 13 and 14 days of gestation, more mature types (polychromatic and acidophilic cells) became more abundant at 17 and 20 days of gestation. Suppressible binding of glucocorticosteroid at 4°C was studied on these suspensions, using [³H]dexamethasone. Binding sites were found at all stages of gestation studied. The mean number per cell (for the entire erythroid population) was roughly 3600, 3500, 2300 and 1700 at 13, 14, 17 and 20 days of gestation respectively, without any change in the apparent equilibrium dissociation constant (K_d: 5·5 x 10^–9 to 6·5 x 10^–9 mol/l). Suspensions containing essentially progenitor cells were prepared from erythropoietic cells from livers obtained at 14 and 16 days of gestation, using a rabbit immune serum against rat erythrocytes in the presence of an excess of complement. These cells had 1800 and 1600 receptor sites per cell respectively (same K_d as above). No receptors were found on circulating adult or fetal erythrocytes.

The results strongly suggest that there is an uneven distribution of the number of the glucocorticosteroid binding sites per cell amongst the different cell types of the erythroid line. These sites were present in progenitors, increased in number in the basophilic cells and then progressively disappeared as the cells matured.

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				P. Papoff, R. D Christensen, J. Harcum, and Y. Li In vitro effect of dexamethasone phosphate on hematopoietic progenitor cells in preterm infants Arch. Dis. Child. Fetal Neonatal Ed., January 1, 1998; 78(1): 67F - 69. [Abstract] [Full Text]