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When cells in your kidneys sense that there’s sufficient oxygen in your blood, they reduce the production of erythropoietin. Certain conditions can affect how much EPO your kidneys make. They may make too much or not enough. This results in low levels of red blood cells or high levels of red blood cells.
Jun 28, 2024 · Erythropoietin (EPO) is a hormone secreted by specialized cells in the kidney that stimulate the bone marrow to manufacture red blood cells (erythrocytes). The EPO test is ordered to help determine the cause of an unexplained anemia (low red blood cell count). The normal range for erythropoietin levels range from 2.6 to 18.5 milliunits per milliliter (mU/mL).
Post-natal EPO production occurs mainly in peritubular fibroblast-like interstitial cells of the kidney 43– 50 but also in liver, spleen, bone marrow, lungs, and brain 51– 53 and is regulated by blood oxygen levels through a transcriptional feedback loop ( Figure 2) 15– 19.
Raised levels of Erythropoietin in athletes indicate erythropoietin abuse (doping). EPO doping can boost the number of red blood cells and there by increased availability of oxygen to the muscles. This can help the athlete with increased performance ability and endurance. Blood doping is illegal especially in professional sports.
Erythropoietin (EPO) regulation of red blood cell production and its induction at reduced oxygen tension provides for the important erythropoietic response to ischemic stress. The cloning and production of recombinant human EPO has led to its clinical use in patients with anemia for two and half decades and has facilitated studies of EPO action.
Abstract. In mammals, erythropoietin (EPO), produced in the kidney, is essential for bone marrow erythropoiesis, and hypoxia induction of EPO production provides for the important erythropoietic response to ischemic stress, such as during blood loss and at high altitude.
People also ask
How does a low blood oxygen level affect erythropoietin production?
Why is erythropoietin required for red blood cell production?
How does hypoxia affect erythropoietin production?
This increases the blood's oxygen carrying capacity and corrects the hypoxia which was the primary stimulus to erythropoietin production (Figure 1). Erythropoietin therefore is part of a finely-tuned feedback circuit that controls red blood cell levels. The best analogy is a thermostat and a furnace.
