Aurélien Pichon,1–3 Florine Jeton,1,2 Raja El Hasnaoui-Saadani,4 Luciana Hagström,5 Thierry Launay,6 Michèle Beaudry,1 Dominique Marchant,1 Patricia Quidu,1 Jose-Luis Macarlupu,7 Fabrice Favret,8 Jean-Paul Richalet,1,2 Nicolas Voituron1,2 1Laboratory “Hypoxia and Lung” EA 2363, University Paris 13, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Bobigny Cedex, 2Laboratory of Excellence GR-Ex, Paris, 3Laboratory MOVE EA 6314, FSS, Poitiers University, Poitiers, France; 4Research Unit, College of Medicine, Princess Noura University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; 5Laboratório Interdisciplinar de Biociências, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, Brazil; 6Unité de Biologie Intégrative des Adaptations à l'Exercice, University Paris Saclay and Genopole®, University Sorbonne-Paris-Cité, Paris, France; 7High Altitude Unit, Laboratories for Research and Development, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru; 8Laboratory “Mitochondrie, Stress Oxydant et Protection Musculaire” EA 3072, University of Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France Abstract: Despite its well-known role in red blood cell production, it is now accepted that erythropoietin (Epo) has other physiological functions. Epo and its receptors are expressed in many tissues, such as the brain and heart. The presence of Epo/Epo receptors in these organs suggests other roles than those usually assigned to this protein. Thus, the aim of this review is to describe the effects of Epo deficiency on adaptation to normoxic and hypoxic environments and to suggest a key role of Epo on main physiological adaptive functions. Our original model of Epo-deficient (Epo-TAgh) mice allowed us to improve our knowledge of the possible role of Epo in O2 homeostasis. The use of anemic transgenic mice revealed Epo as a crucial component of adaptation to hypoxia. Epo-TAgh mice survive well in hypoxic conditions despite low hematocrit. Furthermore, Epo plays a key role in neural control of ventilatory acclimatization and response to hypoxia, in deformability of red blood cells, in cerebral and cardiac angiogenesis, and in neuro- and cardioprotection. Keywords: Epo-TAgh mice, mouse model, physiological functions, hypoxia