THE ERYTHROPOIETIC‐STIMULATING EFFECTS OF ANDROGENS

Several authors have reported that testosterone is capable of stimulating erythropoiesis in some patients with various types of anemias.13 More knowledge of the mechanism by which testosterone affects erythropoiesis might improve our understanding of the pathogenesis of these anemias and thereby lead to a more rational basis for their therapy with androgens. Blacher first suggested that the sex hormones influence erythropoiesis after he described differences in the red blood counts of male and female fowl.4 Shortly thereafter Juhn and Domm showed that these differences were dependent on the presence of intact gonads in the male.5 Vollmer et al.6,7 showed that testosterone propionate stimulated erythropoiesis in female rats, in castrated male rats and in hypophysectomized rats. In this paper we shall report the results of studies on the mechanism by which androgens and other anabolic steroids stimulate erythropoiesis in mice. We will also discuss the effect of testosterone on mice with anemia resulting from mutation at the W locus. Finally we shall speculate on the relationship between these findings and the way that testosterone stimulates erythropoiesis in anemic patients.