Plasma erythropoietin activity in diabetes patients, studied by determining the 59Fe incorporation in posthypoxic polycythemic mice.

The plasma erythropoietin activity in diabetes patients was studied using methods for biological testing on posthypoxic polycythemic mice, based on the incorporation of 59Fe in the newly-formed red blood cells of the animals. The data are read on an automatic scintillation gamma-counter. Considerably higher erythropoietin activity of the plasma obtained from diabetics (p less than 0.