Hormone action on the cell nucleus: effect of erythropoietin and testosterone on bone marrow.

Experiments intended to correlate the biochemical action of erythropoietin and testosterone on marrow cells are presented. Both hormones seem to act at different cytological and biochemical levels. Erythropoietin triggers the erythropoietic phenomenon acting on the Erythropoietin-Sensitive Cells. Inducing the synthesis of a large size RNA, (85S) which after a ribonuclease-dependent processing mechanism generates the informational RNA (9S) required for hemoglobin synthesis. Testosterone acts directly on bone marrow (probably at the level of polychromatophylic erythroblasts) enhancing the synthesis of ribosomal RNA or its precursors and stimulates a nuclear ribonuclease which might represent a control mechanism on the processing of high molecular weight RNAs. It is postulated that erythropoietin and testosterone act synergistically to create the biochemical machinery for hemoglobin synthesis.