Alterations in graft--ersus-host reactivity and peripheral leukocytes in mice after erythropoietin treatment.

Treatment of mice on four consecutive days with either erythropoietin (EP) or rabbit antimouse thymocyte serum (ATS) resulted in a significant reduction in antigenic reactivity of spleen cells as measured by the Simonsen assay. In normal animals, treatment with either EP or ATS resulted in lymphopenia and in most instances a neutrophilia and a variable monocytopenia. Similar alterations in these cell types were recorded for polycythemic mice subsequent to treatment with either EP or ATS. These data plus histologic analyses support the idea that there is an inverse relationship between the cells committed to differentiate along the lymphoid cell line and the cells committed to differentiate along myeloid cell lines. Further, the data are consistent with the "carrying capacity" concept regarding the stem cell microenvironment and support the monophyletic theory.