17β-Estradiol decreases hypoxic induction of erythropoietin gene expression

Abstract

Exposure to chronic hypoxia induces erythropoietin (EPO) production to facilitate oxygen delivery to hypoxic tissues. Previous studies from our laboratory found that ovariectomy (OVX) exacerbates the polycythemic response to hypoxia and treatment with 17β-estradiol (E2-β) inhibits this effect. We hypothesized that E2-β decreases EPO gene expression during hypoxia. Because E2-β can induce nitric oxide (NO) production and NO can attenuate EPO synthesis, we further hypothesized that E2-β inhibition of EPO gene expression is mediated by NO. These hypotheses were tested in OVX catheterized rats treated with E2-β (20 μg/day) or vehicle for 14 days and exposed to 8 or 12 h of hypoxia (12% O2) or normoxia. We found that E2-β treatment significantly decreased EPO synthesis and gene expression during hypoxia. E2-β treatment did not induce endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) expression in the kidney but potentiated hypoxia-induced increases in plasma nitrates. We conclude that E2-β decreases hypoxic induction of EPO. However, this effect does not appear to be related to changes in renal eNOS expression.