Erythropoiesis in Rheumatoid Arthritis: The Effect of Spleen Extract and Amino Acid Solution on Bone Marrow Cultures

Abstract

Summary Erythropoiesis was studied in bone marrow cultures from 54 patients with varying diseases. The method given by Plum was used. In 23 cases of rheumatoid arthritis a formation of 7.1—7.3 erythrocytes per hour and nucleus-containing red blood cell was found when spleen extract or amino acid solution was added. This value significantly exceeds the spontaneous activity of 3.74 simultaneously found in control samples from the same patients. No similar effect could be observed in the trials on bone marrow from the cases with other diagnoses.