Influence of the erythroid activity of the bone marrow on the plasma disappearance of injected erythropoietin in dogs.

Abstract

THE finding that plasma erythropoietin titre in patients with an aplastic or hypoplastic bone marrow was higher than in patients with haemolytic anaemias despite similar haemoglobin concentration led Stohlman to postulate that the plasma erythropoietin level is related not only to the severity of the stimulus but also to the degree of erythroid activity of the bone marrow1. Jacobson et al.2 and Hammond et al.3 have suggested that erythropoietin may be consumed or degraded by actively proliferating erythrocytic elements.