Molecular biology has provided a tool with which problems in cellular differentiation can be answered. Recombinant DNA technology has been used to obtain quantities of the erythropoietic hormone, erythropoietin. The availability of the hormone has provided a much-needed impetus in learning how erythropoiesis is controlled. Knowledge of the genetic components, transcription and translation of the erythropoietin gene and finally the release of the mature hormone under various physiological conditions should be forthcoming in the near future. This volume will give the reader some indication as to the different aspects of erythropoiesis. They include the regulation of production of the hormone under normal and abnormal conditions, ontogeny and cellular interactions and the assay of the hormone itself.

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Preface.- Acknowledgements.- Abbreviations.- Session 1 Molecular Biology of Erythropoiesis and Erythropoietin.- The Molecular Biology of Erythropoietin and the Expression of its Gene.- The Molecular Biology of Erythropoietin.- Analysis of Erythroid Cell-Specific Gene Expression.- The Role of Oxygen Tension in the Regulation of Protein Synthesis in Erythroid Cells.- Erythropoietin Production and Erythropoietin Receptors on Murine Erythroleukemic Cell Lines.- The Purification of Spleen CFU-E and its Applications in the Study of In Vitro Erythropoiesis.- Use of Purified Erythropoietin Responsive Cells Produced by the Anemia Strain of Friend Virus to Study the Action of Erythropoietin.- Retroviral Vectors for Gene Transfer and Expression in Haematopoietic Cells.- Summary of Round Table Discussion to Session 1.- Session 2 Cellular Interactions and Signals during Erythropoietic Ontogeny.- Respective Roles of Programme and Differentiation Factors during Hemoglobin Switching in the Embryo.- Cellular Interactions and/or Random Differentiation for the Formation of Erythroid Cells in the Early Chick Embryo.- Divergence of Erythroid Restricted Precursors from Haemopoietic Stem Cells during Early Ontogeny.- Some Endocrine Aspects of Renal and Extrarenal Erythropoietin in Normoxic and Hypoxic Rats.- Perturbation of Erythropoiesis during the Period of Early Anemia. A Model for Studying the Regulation of Erythropoiesis in the Neonatal Mammal.- The Cellular Basis of Developmental Changes in Haemoglobin Synthesis.- Summary of Round Table Discussion to Session 2.- Session 3 Cellular Interactions and Signals during Adult Erythropoiesis.- Cell to Cell Interaction in Erythropoiesis: The Role of the Thymus.- Erythropoiesis and Macrophage Subsets in Medullary and Extramedullary Sites.- Studies on the Interaction between Murine Resident Bone Marrow Macrophages and Haematopoietic Cells.- Monocyte-Macrophage Mediated Suppression of Erythropoiesis in Renal Anemia.- Erythropoietin Production by Macrophages: Cellular Response to Physiological Oxygen Tensions and Detection of Erythropoietin Gene Expression by In Situ Hybridization.- Chemoreception of Oxygen in the Kidney and Erythropoietin Production.- Renal Biogenesis of Erythropoietin.- Enhanced Erythropoietic Response to Hypobaria in Hypertransfused, Post-Hypoxic, Post-Anemic or Testosterone-Treated Polycythemic Rodents.- The Use of Two-Phase Systems for the Fractionation of Heterogeneous Populations of Bone Marrow Cells and Erythrocytes: Bisphosphoglycerate Mutase as an Enzyme Marker for Erythroid Cells.- Summary of Round Table Discussion to Session 3.- Session 4 Assay of Erythropoietin.- Review.- The Estimation of Erythropoietin (Epo): Principles, Problems and Progress.- The Use of 125I Recombinant DNA Derived Human Erythropoign (R-HuEPO) as a Replacement for 125I Human Urinary Epo as Tracer Antigen in a Radioimmunoassay for Human Epo.- Development of a Radioimmunoassay for Erythropoietin Using Recombinant Erythropoietin-Derived Reagents.- Isolation of Anti-Erythropoietin by Automated Immuno-Affinity FPLC using Recombinant EPO.- The Effect of Heat-Treatment on the Estimation of Bioactive Erythropoietin in Serum using the Mouse Spleen Cell Assay.- Standards for the Assay of Erythropoietin.- Summary of Round Table Discussion to Session 4.- Contributors.