Testosterone Induces Erythrocytosis via Increased Erythropoietin and Suppressed Hepcidin: Evidence for a New Erythropoietin/Hemoglobin Set Point

Abstract

Testosterone-induced increase in hemoglobin and hematocrit is associated with stimulation of EPO and reduced ferritin and hepcidin concentrations. We propose that testosterone stimulates erythropoiesis by stimulating EPO and recalibrating the set point of EPO in relation to hemoglobin and by increasing iron utilization for erythropoiesis.

Evaluation of Serum Testosterone Level in Men with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

“…Since iron is vital to produce red blood cells, the reduced iron levels may increase susceptibility of hypogonadism patients to anemia [12] . Such observations indicate that reduced testosterone levels leads to reduction in red blood cells resulting in anemic condition [13] . On the other hand, high ferritin levels during the time of puberty often act as a risk factor leading to the development of hypogonadism, as suggested by Shalitin et al [14] .…”

Effect of Conjugated Linoleic Acid Intake on Endurance Exercise Performance and Anti-fatigue in Student Athletes

“…CLA supplementation with training increased free testosterone and exercise performance 15,24,27 . Hemoglobin and hematocrit were increased by higher testosterone, and that was associated with increased erythropoietin levels 27,29 . In this study, there was no significant difference in the amount of hemoglobin and hematocrit variation between the two groups.…”

Complications of injectable testosterone undecanoate in routine clinical practice

“…Testosterone has prominent dose-dependent stimulatory effect on erythropoiesis, involving stimulation of erythropoietin, suppression of hepcidin and increased iron incorporation into erythrocytes (37,38,39,40). Consequently, testosterone replacement therapy can result in polycythaemia (11,41), which is more prominent among older men (42) and those having injectable or implantable rather than oral testosterone (15).…”