Detection of two types of hemoglobin (HbA and HbF) in single erythrocytes by fluorescent antibody technique

ERYTHROPOIESIS DURING AMPHIBIAN METAMORPHOSIS : III. Immunochemical Detection of Tadpole and Frog Hemoglobins (Rana catesbeiana) in Single Erythrocytes

Rabbit antibodies specific for the major tadpole and frog hemoglobin components of R. catesbeiana were used for the detection of the two hemoglobins inside single cells. The antisera, after fractionation by ammonium sulfate precipitation and diethylaminoethyl (DEAE)-cellulose chromatography, were conjugated with fluorescein isothiocyanate for the antifrog hemoglobin serum and tetramethylrhodamine isothiocyanate for the antitadpole hemoglobin serum. The conjugated fractions, refractionated by stepwise elution from a DEAE-cellulose column, were used for the fluorescent staining of blood smears, liver tissue imprints, and smears of liver cell suspensions. Both simultaneous and sequential staining with the two fluorescent preparations indicated that larval and adult hemoglobins were not present within the same erythrocyte during metamorphosis. In other experiments, erythroid cells from animals in metamorphosis were spread on agar containing specific antiserum. Precipitates were formed around the cells which contain the particular hemoglobin. The percentages of cells containing either tadpole or frog hemoglobin were estimated within the experimental error of the method. The data showed that the two hemoglobins are in different cells. It is concluded that the hemoglobin change observed during the metamorphosis of R. catesbeiana is due to the appearance of a new population of erythroid cells containing exclusively frog hemoglobin.

Control of haemoglobin switching by a developmental clock?

The pattern of haemoglobin production changes at the embryonic, fetal and postnatal stages of human development, reflecting the expression of different globin genes in both the alpha-like and beta-like gene clusters. Recent studies have identified alterations in the state of DNA methylation and sensitivity to nuclease digestion associated with developmental expression of the globin genes in red blood cell precursors, but the mechanism initiating these changes remains unknown. Despite the screening of large numbers of blood samples from newborn infants, no mutants have been found which affect the timing of these changes (with one possible exception involving a chromosomal translocation), thus necessitating alternative approaches to analysing the cellular basis for the timing of haemoglobin switching. Although many mechanisms are possible, the initiation of the switch from fetal to adult haemoglobin could be regulated essentially either by a developmental clock inherent to haematopoietic stem cells or by an inductive environment, and in an attempt to distinguish between these possibilities, we have transplanted sheep fetal haematopoietic tissue into adult animals. Although previous experiments of this type produced conflicting results, the accumulated results presented here demonstrate that the pattern of haemoglobin production after transplantation is determined largely by the gestational age of the fetal donor cells.

Erythropoiesis in the developing rainbow trout, Salmo gairdneri irideus: histochemical and immunochemical detection of erythropoietic organs

In the rainbow trout, Salmo gairdneri irideus, round, disc-like erythrocytes in the embryonic circulation (Ery L) are replaced by small, elliptical, disc-like erythrocytes (Ery ImA) after hatching. In the peripheral blood of alevins, Ery ImAs grow into mature, adult erythrocytes (Ery A) of large elliptical, disc-like shape (Iuchi, '73b; Yamamoto and Iuchi, '75). Ery L and Ery A have larval and adult hemoglobins, respectively (Iuchi, '73a). The ontogenetic sequence of hemoglobin switching and erythrocyte replacement during erythropoiesis was examined by o-dianisidine histochemistry as well as immunohistochemistry using FITC-antibody probe specific to adult hemoglobins. The first phase of embryonic erythropoiesis (for Ery L) occurs in the intraembryonic "intermediate cell mass" as well as the extraembryonic blood islands on the yolk sac. This phase of erythropoiesis is transient, continuing during the 7th to 12th day after fertilization and ceasing by the 15th day (5th day before hatching). There is a mixed population of Ery L, ImA, and A in the peripheral blood of posthatching alevins. Ery ImA and A showed immunofluorescence with FITC anti-Hb A antibody but Ery L did not. Erythroid cells, stainable with FITC anti-Hb A antibody, were observed in the kidney and the spleen 1 day before hatching and thereafter, but not in the liver throughout all stages examined. Therefore, we conclude that new erythropoiesis (erythropoiesis for Ery ImA and Ery A) began in the kidney and the spleen 1 day before hatching. These findings indicate that hemoglobin switching during the ontogeny of rainbow trout is based on erythrocyte replacement, correlated with a shift in the site of erythropoiesis from one organ to another.

A new approach for the antenatal diagnosis of beta-thalassaemia: a double labelling immunofluorescence microscopy technique

A new approach to the antenatal diagnosis of beta-thalassaemia major (homozygous beta-thalassaemia) has been developed. Using rhodamine-labelled antibodies directed against gamma-globin, fetal erythrocytes can be identified in fetal blood samples contaminated with maternal cells, and using fluorescein-labelled antibodies directed against beta-globin, the presence of beta-chains (and thus Hb-A) may be determined in the same cells by double labelling immunofluorescence microscopy. The results obtained using this technique on blood samples from fetuses at risk for beta-thalassaemia major show that if fetal beta-chains are detected immunochemically the fetus is normal or heterozygous for beta-thalassaemia and over 85% of the fetuses unaffected by beta-thalassaemia major may be identified in this way. The technique is rapid, applicable to small numbers of fetal erythrocytes heavily contaminated with maternal cells and eliminates the necessity of determining chain synthesis ratios in those cases where beta-chains are detected immunochemically.

Globin chain synthesis in single erythroid bursts from cord blood: studies on gamma leads to beta and G gamma leads to A gamma switches

Erythroid bursts from cord or adult blood were grown in methylcellulose cultures (3 international units of erythropoietin per plate). On day 13, single bursts were picked up and reincubated for 16-24 hr with [3H]leucine. Radioactive globin chains [alpha,beta,G gamma, and A gamma (Ala-136)] were analyzed by either isoelectric focusing on polyacrylamide gels and fluorography or carboxymethylcellulose chromatography. In all cases, alpha to non-alpha globin radioactivity ratios were close to 1. In single cord blood bursts, the values of both gamma-to-beta and G gamma-to-A gamma ratios were spread over a large spectrum and further characterized by a continuous rather than a bimodal distribution. Morever, the G gamma-to-A gamma ratios demonstrated in single bursts appeared to be directly correlated with the respective gamma-to-beta ratios. These data suggest that both the gamma leads to beta and the G gamma leads to A gamma switches are mediated via mechanisms modulating the relative activities of the different genes in the non-alpha globin gene cluster rather than via selection of clones committed to the preferential synthesis of beta and A gamma globins. In contrast with the results obtained with cord blood, individual adult blood bursts synthesize a lower and hence relatively more uniform amount of gamma globin chains.

Fetal hemoglobin restriction to a few erythrocytes (F cells) in normal human adults

During adult life, the quantity of fetal hemoglobin (HbF) present in F cells--that is, rare erythrocytes which are reactive with rabbit antiserum to human HbF during microscopic immunodiffusion--is sufficient to account for all of the small quantity (less than 0.7 percent) of HbF normally present in whole blood. Thus, erythrocytes are normally heterogeneous with respect to the presence of HbF.

The erythroid cells and haemoglobins of the chick embryo

The changes in the types of erythroid cells produced during embryogenesis of the chick have been correlated with the changes in the types of haemoglobins found in the embryo. Primitive erythroid cells constitute the only red blood cells of 2- to 5-day embryos. The first recognizable immature definitive erythroid cells appear in the embryonic circulation at 5 to 6 days and progressively replace the primitive cells, such that by 14 to 16 days the primitive cells constitute less than 1 % of the circulating erythroid cells. Primitive erythropoiesis is strikingly different from definitive erythropoiesis. At any one time point between 2 and 16 days, all of the isolated primitive cells appear, by morphological criteria, to be at the same stage of maturation, and, although variation in cell size is observed, for an individual maturation stage, the small cells are not more mature than the medium-size cells, nor are the large cells less mature than the medium or small cells. Maturing primitive erythroid cells undergo the progressive changes in cell structure characteristic of erythroid maturation in mammalian erythropoietic systems, but do so as a uniform cell population. Haemoglobin, isolated from primitive erythroid cells of 2- to 5-day embryos, shows two components on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, haemoglobin E and haemoglobin P. The haemoglobin E/P ratio is constant in lysates from 2- to 5-day embryos. A t 6 to 7 days when the first haemoglobinized immature definitive erythroid cells appear in the embryonic circulation, two new haemoglobin components are observed in lysates of erythroid cells. These two new haemoglobin components are electrophoretically and immunologically identical to the two haemoglobin components of adult chickens, haemoglobins A and D. As the definitive erythroid cells replace the primitive erythrocytes in the embryonic circulation, the haemoglobins A and D increase in amount and replace haemoglobin P. Haemoglobin P cannot be detected immunologically in erythroid cell lysates from 16-day embryos which contain less than 1 % primitive cells. In erythroid cell lysates from late embryos, which contained few, if any, primitive erythrocytes, a minor haemoglobin, electrophoretically similar to haemoglobin E on pH 10.3 polyacrylamide gels, is consistently observed. This component differs from haemoglobin E on pH 8.9 polyacrylmide gels, on Sephadex G-100 columns, on polyacrylamide gels of different porosities, and shows a reaction of only partial identity with haemoglobin E by two-dimensional immunodiffusion. This haemoglobin component, haemoglobin H, is detectable electrophoretically in lysates from 12-day embryos and immunologically in lysates from 8-day embryos. Haemoglobin H has not been observed in adult chickens. The switch from the production of primitive to definitive erythroid cells during development of the chick embryo is associated with the initiation of synthesis of three new haemoglobins, the two adult haemoglobins and haemoglobin H. The haemoglobin D /A ratio of adult chicken haemoglobin, determined from the ratio of gel scan peak masses, is 0.30. When haemoglobins D and A first appear in erythroid cell lysates from 6- to 7-day embryos, the haemoglobin D /A ratio is about 0.9. T he D/A ratio of lysates falls to 0.5 by 16 to 18 days, a time when 99 % of the erythroid cells of the embryo are mature definitive erythrocytes. However, the haemoglobin D /A ratio of lysates from late embryos and young chicks of 0.5 to 20 days of age is consistently greater than that of adult chicken haemoglobin. Definitive erythrocytes of chick embryos and young chicks appear to differ from definitive cells of adult chickens in at least two ways: the presence of haemoglobin H and the higher haemoglobin D/A ratio.

Gene selection in hemoglobin and in antibody-synthesizing cells

Close linkage of mutually exclusive genes occurs in the non-alpha chain hemoglobin genes and in the immunoglobulin genes of man and other mammals. The expression of one gene in the cluster precludes the expression of any other linked gene. A simple, testable theory of gene selection called "looping-out excision"which was designed only to explain this mutual exclusivity in the hemoglobin system is described. The theory is closely concordant with a wide range of previously unexplained findings concerning hematopoiesis- including the developmental changes of hemoglobins, the increases in immature or fetal forms of hemoglobin that accompany anemia, and with the distribution of adult and fetal hemoglobins among erythrocytes during normal embryogenesis and in various pathological conditions. One corollary of this theory is that erythroid tissue in the normal adult bone marrow is constantly recapitulating the developmental stages of its embryogenesis. Another corollary is that the selection from among the linked globin genes occurs independently on the two chromosomes of the diploid organism. Both of these corollaries are supported by the available data. The same theory of gene selection is also remarkably consistent with known data for immunoglobulin synthesis; it could explain not only the mutually exclusive activation of linked variable genes but also the splicing which occurs between genetically linked variable and constant region genes for the immunoglobulin polypeptide chains. The agreement between these two different tissues is considered to be strong evidence that the proposed mechanism is correct at least in broad outline. Evidence from the genetics of maize and of drosophila also supports this theory of somatic tissue variegation. On the basis of these comparisons, I suggest that looping-out excision probably occurs also in other tissues and may be one means of gene selection and activation in differentiating cells.