Response of Starved Rats and Polycythemic Rats to Graded Doses of Erythropoietin.

Abstract
The response to graded doses of erythropoietin was tested in assay rats with erythropoiesis arrested by starvation or transfusion-induced polycythemia. Measurement of red cell Fe59 incorporation proved to be a more sensitive means of assessing erythropoiesis than did reticulocyte counting. The log dose-response relationship was linear within the range tested. Starved rats responded to erythropoietin in a manner similar to assay rats with erythropoiesis arrested by transfusion.