Erythropoietin and its lost receptor

The Role of Erythropoietin in Neuroprotection: Therapeutic Perspectives

Nervous system diseases are very complex conditions comprising a large variety of local and systemic responses. Several therapeutic agents interfering with all or in part the biochemical steps that ultimately cause neuronal death have been demonstrated to be neuroprotective in preclinical models. However, all the agents so far investigated have inexorably failed in the phase III trials carried out. A large body of evidence suggests that the hormone erythropoietin (EPO), besides its well-known hematopoietic action, exerts beneficial effects in the central nervous system. EPO's effect has been assessed in several experimental models of brain and spinal cord injury thus becoming a serious cand…

Vascular endothelial growth factor induces brain erythropoietin expression?

To investigate whether the formation of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) influences erythropoietin (EPO) expression in physiological conditions, we injected into the left lateral cerebral ventricle of the Mongolian gerbil an adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector capable of expressing the 165-amino-acid isoform of VEGF (VEGF165). Twelve and 18 days after AAV vector injection, the experimental animals were sacrificed and expression of EPO was evaluated through immunohistochemical analysis of both the hippocampus and the frontal cortex. We observed that VEGF165 induces EPO expression in the hippocampal pyramidal layers and in the frontal cortex of the gerbil, particularly after the 18th…