Experimental hematology
-
Experimental hematology · Nov 2005
ReviewErythropoietin: the story of hypoxia and a finely regulated hematopoietic hormone.
The dramatic increase in knowledge during the last half century about the hormone erythropoietin is reviewed. The description of these events has been separated into two parts. ⋯ The second part describes how changes in erythropoietin concentrations act on erythroid progenitor cells, resulting in prompt changes in rates of erythrocyte production. Together these two aspects of erythropoietin biology provide an explanation for the tight physiological regulation of the numbers of circulating erythrocytes and, in a more general manner, provide a model for the control of the numbers of other specific blood cells by their respective hematopoietic growth factors.