Human adipose tissue contains erythroid progenitors expressing fetal hemoglobin

Figure 4 Analysis of globin gene expression in erythroid cells. CD45⁺ and CD45^- cells isolated from the stromal vascular fraction (SVF) and CD34⁺ cells from cord blood (CB) or adult peripheral blood (PB) were cultured in a methylcellulose-based medium, and burst-forming units-erythroid -derived erythroid cells were isolated at day 15 of culture to determine globin gene expression by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. The transcripts were normalized to glyceraldehyde-3- phosphate dehydrogenase. Based on the α-globin levels, the values obtained for SVF- and CB-derived cells were placed into three groups (I, II and III). A: CB CD34⁺ cells, n = 10; B: SVF CD45^- cells, n = 17; C: SVF CD45⁺ cells, n = 17; D: PB CD34⁺ cells, n = 4. All samples were assayed in duplicate.