The biogenesis of erythropoietin.

Aerobic living demands a constant supply of oxygen at the cellular mitochondrial level. Numerous interlocking feedback mechanisms insure the constancy of this supply by adapting the supply lines to changes in the intra and extracellular milieu. Among these mechanisms is the feedback circuit which, triggered by an intracellular decrease in oxygen supply, initiates the production of a polypeptide hormone, erythropoietin, which in turn augments the production of an oxygen carrier, the hemoglobin-containing red cell. The biogenesis of this hormone is an important biologic process which is being studied intensively and slowly unravelled.