Blood, 1968, Vol. 32, No. 4, pp. 586-596.
© 1968 American Society of Hematology, Inc.
Regulation of Erythropoiesis
XXIII. Dissociation between Stem Cell and Erythroid
Response to Hypoxia
BERNHARD KUBANEK 1,
LUIGI FERRARI 1,
WILLIAM S. TYLER 1,
DONALD HOWARD 1,
SUSAN JAY 1, and
FREDERICK STOHLMAN JR. 1
1 St. Elizabeth’s Hospital, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Mass.
The effect of hypoxia on red cell production and stem cells, as measured
by CFU, was studied in two strains of mice. One of these strains, the CAF1,
has been shown to produce relatively little erythropoietin in response to hypoxia; the other, the CF1, produces substantial amounts of erythropoietin.
In the studies reported herein the CAF1 mice had an increase of 
30 per cent
in red cell mass after 23 days of exposure to either discontinuous (16 hrs./day)
or continuous hypoxia equivalent to 23,000 feet of altitude. The CF1 mouse
doubled its red cell mass after similar exposure. The splenic CFU decreased
to as low as 17 per cent in the poorly responding CAF1 but remained at
or near control levels in the CF1. It is suggested that the dissociation between
erythroid response and changes in the CFU reflect a secondary effect of hypoxia not directly related to the erythropoietin-induced increase in red cell
production.
Submitted on January 16, 1968
Accepted on March 8, 1968
