Glycoprotein hormones 1940 Volume

Maintenance of red cell volume is critical to having an adequate oxygen supply to the tissues [10]. Healthy individuals finely balance erythropoiesis and erythrocyte loss and maintain constant hematocrit. The glycoprotein hormone erythropoietin is the principal controller of the homeostatic mechanism that links tissue oxygen delivery to red cell production. While hypothesized as early as 1863, unequivocal evidence of erythropoietin was first published in 1953. A few years later, scientists showed that animals subjected to bilateral nephrectomy were unable to mount an erythropoietin response to hypoxia. Indeed, the kidneys produce about 90% of circulating erythropoietin. 

Studies on the sub-units of human glycoprotein hormones in relation to reproduction have been reviewed. " One volume of a treatise on hormonal proteins and peptides has been devoted to thyroid hormones. The ectopic production of human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) and its a- and /J-sub-units has been discussed. ... 

Reviews of the experimental methods used in hormone research have been published. One volume is concerned with steroid hormones, and includes references to steroid-binding glycoproteins in sera and to cytoplasmic receptors. A second volume deals with the methodology associated with peptide hormones, including procedures for tritium-labelling of sialylated glycoproteins. A... 

The sialic acids are a family of ubiquitous aminosugars found in some bacteria and invertebrates, and in all vertebrate tissues. They are normally found as nonreducing termini of complex heteropolymers such as glycoproteins, glycopeptide hormones, and glycolipids. The chemistry and structural features of these compounds are described in Chapter 1 of this volume. 

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