Is there a dissociation of erythropoietic proliferation and serum erythropoietin levels in renal failure patients on longterm haemodialysis treatment.

The demonstration of a sustained erythropoietin (EP) -- haematocrit (HCT) feedback mechanism would underline the importance of EP as a stimulant agent for the erythropoietic proliferation (EPRO) in chronic uraemia. Hypertransfusion showed a significant suppression of EPRO without a concomitant suppression of the pretransfusional immunodetectable (id) serum EP levels. We conclude that idEP is not the major direct mediator of EPRO in short term regulatory mechanisms in the anaemia of uraemia.