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The oscillations, interactions and control mechanisms of the red blood cell and bone marrow stem cell system were studied. A mathematical formulation in the form of four difference‐differential simultaneous equations was established in the four variables of the system; (i) stem cell population, (ii) chalone mitotic inhibitor, (iii) red cell population, and (iv) erythropoietin; as postulated by Orr, Kirk, Gray and Anderson (1968). Numerical values of the constants in these equations were determined from a large range of data. Calculations on the behaviour of the formulation were carried out using an ICT 1902 digital computer. The predictions of the formulation were compared with three kinetic sets of experimental data, showing satisfactory agreement. Analysis of the system yields the value of the stem cell population. In conclusion, some properties of the oscillatory features of the system are discussed.
Kirk et al. (Mon,) studied this question.