Erythropoietin

A hormone that stimulates the formation of red blood cells in the bone marrow. Erythropoietin is a peptide hormone that is excreted more frequently in the case of oxygen deficiency. It causes an increase in erythropoiesis (= production of red blood cells) in the bone marrow.

It is a growth factor formed in the kidneys (increased in the case of oxygen deficiency), also synthetically or genetically producible (glycoprotein, molecular weight 30-40 - 10.), which stimulates erythropoiesis in the bloodstream (humoral) (cell differentiation, rapid increase in the number of reticulocytes and erythrocytes in peripheral blood, increase in purine and heme synthesis, iron metabolism and oxygen consumption). The blood values are lowered in hunger anemia, infections, rheumatic diseases, chronic nephropathies and neoplasms (tumors), increased in bleeding and haemolytic anemia, chronic. Hypoxia (e.g. height adjustment) and during pregnancy, in umbilical cord blood.