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Nicole Edelweiss Liza BSMT3A #3 Prelim MTEC 216 Hematology 28, 2011 Essential Questions: 1.

. What is the role of erythropoietin? 2. How does the body compensate when hypoxia is detected?

EQ Nov.

3. What are the physiologic and hematologic responses of the body to hypoxia? Answers: 1. Erythropoietin is a glycoprotein hormone that controls erythropoiesis, or red blood cell production. It is a cytokine for erythrocyte (red blood cell) precursors in the bone marrow. Also called hematopoietin or hemopoietin, it is produced by interstitial fibroblasts in the kidney in close association with peritubular capillary and tubular epithelial cells. It is also produced in perisinusoidal Ito cells in the liver. While liver production predominates in the fetal and perinatal period, renal production is predominant during adulthood. Erythropoietin is the hormone that regulates red blood cell production. It also has other known biological functions. For example, erythropoietin plays an important role in the brain's response to neuronal injury. EPO is also involved in the wound healing process. The body has ways to defend itself against hypoxia at each stage of the process of oxygen acquisition: by breathing harder, to get more into the lungs; by crowding more red cells into the blood so that it can carry more in every circulating milliliter; by pumping the blood around at a greater rate; and by widening the blood vessels which supply the vital organs. Most of these adjustments can be made very rapidly. When oxygen is low but tolerably so in inhaled air, and hence in the blood, the arterial chemoreceptors minute structures in the neck sense this and, via the brain, cause a reflex increase in breathing. This brings the oxygen concentration in the lungs closer to that of the outside air it remains low, but not as low as it would be if the breathing did not increase. Stimulation of breathing occurs more dramatically when carbon dioxide is accumulating in the blood whilst oxygen is decreasing, such as in the example of breathing in a confined space.

2.

The heart compensates for hypoxia by pumping out more blood per minute so that the actual delivery rate of oxygen to the tissues can be kept up despite its lower concentration in the blood.

3.

If hypoxia of a tolerable degree is sustained for weeks, the bone marrow produces extra red blood cells, resulting in polycythaemia. The greater density of red cells brings the oxygen concentration in the blood back towards normal despite their hemoglobin carrying less than it ideally could. The down side is that the thicker blood gives extra work to the pumping heart. This defense mechanism cannot of course operate against anemia, when the fault itself lies in a deficient production of red blood cells.

References: Jennett, S. Oxford Companion to the Body: Hypoxia retrieved from www.answers.com retrieved on Nov. 26, 2011 www.wikipedia.com/Erythropoietin retrieved on November 26, 2011

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