The effect of serum from uremic patients on erythropoietin

Serum from patients with chronic renal failure (CRF serum) contains a substance inhibitory to erythropoiesis in vitro. This paper explores the mechanism of the inhibition. Four experiments were performed to evaluate the effects of CRF serum on erythropoietin (EP). In the first 2 experiments, the effect of exposure of EP solutions to CRF serum was evaluated using the plethoric mouse EP assay system and a tissue culture system containing normal dog marrow cells. In the third study, dog marrow cells were preincubated with CRF serum before being stimulated with EP. Finally, EP-dose response curves were constructed in the dog marrow tissue culture system and analyzed using an enzyme kinetic model. The results show no evidence of inhibition or inactivation of EP by CRF serum, although in vitro heme synthesis is clearly depressed in the presence of CRF serum. We conclude that CRF serum inhibits erythropoiesis by directly, although reversibly, impairing the ability of erythroblasts to synthesize heme.