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Red blood cell hemolysates (1-3) and heme-related compounds (4, 5) have been reported to stimulate erythropoiesis in several animal species. Erslev (6) and Okamura, Udupa and Reissmann ( 7 ) reported recently that the erythropoietic effect of red cell hemolysates is due to the release of renal erythropoietin (ESF). Brown, Altschuler and Cooper (4) reported that bilirubin produced an increase in reticulocytes and iron incorporation in red blood cells of fasted dehydrated rats. However, the mechanism by which heme-related compounds stimulate erythropoiesis has not been studied.The present studies were undertaken to clarify the mechanism of the erythropoietic action of bilirubin, an end product of red cell metabolism.Materials and Methods. Female Sprague-Dawley rats weighing 250-275 g were used in these studies. Purified bilirubin (Sigma Chemical Co.) was dissolved in a solution containing 0.5 % sodium carbonate and

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