ABSTRACT
The initial investigations of the role of sex hormones in avian hemopoiesis centered on chickens, no doubt a reflection of the importance of chickens in egg and meat production. M. Juhn and L. V. Domm credited Blacher with observing that the rbc counts in male fowls were higher than that of their female counterparts and that gonadectomized subjects of either sex had red cell counts similar to those of intact females. The stimulatory effect of androgen upon erythropoiesis is readily identifiable while the role of estrogen in inhibiting erythropoiesis, though established, is less understood. Erythropoiesis in avians is stimulated by anoxia by virtue of the fact that lower oxygen levels stimulate the generation/release of the humoral factor erythropoietin. The role of erythropoietin as the major regulator of erythropoiesis in mammals is firmly established. It is produced in the kidney and released into the bloodstream in response to anoxic.
