The sympatho-adrenal response and erythropoietin production in adaptation to hypoxia

The research activity upon erythropoiesis regulation carried out by the team in the Physiology Department and in the Institute of Medical Research of the Romanian Academy in Cluj-Napoca developed continuously after 1950. Our studies contributed to the isolation, identification and characterization of erythropoietin (Epo) and also to a better understanding of the nervous adaptation mechanisms to hypoxia. At present, it is well known that hypoxia acts upon erythropoiesis through Epo production. Direct central nervous stimulation through hypoxia induces, via a neuro-humoral mechanism, a sympatho-adrenal response and release of Epo. Adaptive polyglobulia as a response to hypoxia increases the capacity of oxygen binding and transport. In this paper we attempted to identify the role of the sympathetic nervous system in adaptation to hypoxia correlated with Epo secretion. Experiments were carried out in three groups of rats, respectively, with cervical, thoracic, and lumbar (without celiac) sympathectomy. The sympathectomized animals were submitted to hypobaric or to hemorrhagic hypoxia, in parallel with control groups. Erythrocytic parameters (red blood cells, reticulocytes, hematocrit, and haemoglobin) were repeatedly assayed during the following 2-4 weeks. The results showed that animals with cervical sympathectomy adapt in a deficient manner to hypoxia; lacking the adaptive sino-carotid reflexes, adaptation occurs through increased Epo secretion, animals with cervical sympathectomy having higher counts of reticulocytes and of red blood cells at the end of experiment than intact animals. Thoracic sympathectomy has little influence upon the erythrocytic response, as the largest part of the respiratory and circulatory sympathetic reactions occur via the cervical sympathetic nerve. Lumbar sympathectomy without removal of the celiac ganglion does not decrease the erythrocytic response as expected; on the contrary, the erythrocytic response is increased as compared to controls.

Have no fear, erythropoietin is here: erythropoietin protects fear conditioning performances after functional inactivation of the amygdala

This study investigated the capacity of erythropoietin (EPO) to protect fear conditioning performances against functional inactivation of the amygdala. We infused an excitotoxic dose of glutamate in the lateral nucleus of the amygdala (LA) of adult rats in order to block the output projections to brainstem areas controlling the expression of conditioned fear responses. Subsequently, animals with excitotoxic lesions in the LA displayed altered short and long-term fear conditioned responses, but the integrity of their general emotional reactivity was preserved, as indicated by their open-field behavior. EPO infused immediately after glutamate succeeded to protect the conditioned fear performances of rats. This effect was reliably represented on both short, and long-term memory tests of conditioned fear. This and other studies have supported the potent neuroprotective activity of EPO, discriminable both morphologically, and behaviorally.

The brain and other sites of erythropoietin production

Ischemic hypoxia of the head induced in dogs by carotid compression produces EPO secretion, upon direct cerebral stimulation, and adaptive carotid-respiratory reflexes via sino-carotid stimulation. During hypoxic hypoxia, there also occurs extrarenal EPO production, as shown in binephrectomized rats compared to controls. Ischemic hypoxia of a single kidney transplanted in the neck area (the other kidney being removed) does not induce EPO secretion. An additional factor, of extra-renal origin, is required for the renal production of EPO in a non-hypoxic organism. Section of the spinal cord at C6 level in rats does not abolish EPO secretion induced by hypobaric hypoxia, a fact that suggests that there is no nervous center to control EPO release into a peripheral organ, but EPO might be produced in the brain itself, possibly crossing the blood-brain barrier to reach the blood flow. Stereotactical attempts to locate nervous centers of erythropoiesis regulation also failed. EPO secretion obtained by electrical stimulation of different brain areas suggests the existence of widespread secretory cells, which might be the astrocytes. EPO production along the lymph-forming territories and the involvement of the lining macrophages is reported.