Studies on the in vitro formation of erythropoietin in sheep kidney medulla and the effect of cobalt thereon

Tissue slices of sheep kidney medulla catalyzed the incorporation of 14C-phenylalanine into protein when they were incubated in presence of twenty naturally occurring amino acids. Cobalt salt stimulated the incorporation significantly. Although slices from cortical or juxtaglomerular region of kidney catalyzed the incorporation of radioamino acid into proteins, yet no such stimulation of incorporation by cobalt salt was observed in those cases. The radioamino acid incorporated protein, produced under the influence of kidney medullary tissues in presence or absence of cobalt salt, was identified to be erythropoietin by its thermal stability, electrophoretic mobility on polyacrylamide gel and finally precipitation reaction with antierythropoietin.