| First Author | Son JH | Year | 1996 |
| Journal | Brain Res Mol Brain Res | Volume | 37 |
| Issue | 1-2 | Pages | 32-40 |
| PubMed ID | 8738133 | Mgi Jnum | J:54266 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:1341033 | Doi | 10.1016/0169-328x(95)00271-s |
| Citation | Son JH, et al. (1996) Immortalization of neuroendocrine pinealocytes from transgenic mice by targeted tumorigenesis using the tryptophan hydroxylase promoter. Brain Res Mol Brain Res 37(1-2):32-40 |
| abstractText | Tryptophan hydroxylase (TPH) is the first enzyme in both serotonin and melatonin biosynthesis in neuroendocrine cells of the pineal gland. The lack of immortalized neuroendocrine pineal cell lines has been a major obstacle to the study of the tissue-specific and circadian regulation of TPH gene expression in the pineal gland. Previously, we demonstrated that a 6.1 kb 5' upstream region of the mouse TPH gene directs the restricted expression of a lacZ reporter gene to the pineal gland and the raphe nuclei of transgenic mice. Therefore, to develop TPH- expressing pineal cell lines we first established transgenic mice carrying a construct consisting of 6.1 kb of 5' flanking region fused to the SV40 T-antigen. These animals developed highly invasive pineal tumors and died at 12-15 weeks of age. The pineal tumors obtained from the transgenic mice were utilized to establish the immortalized pinealocyte-derived cell lines. These cells express two marker enzymes, TPH and serotonin N-acetyltransferase (NAT). In pineal gland TPH and NAT expressions have been known to be regulated during circadian cycle. The two established cell lines therefore promise to be a valuable in vitro model system for the study of the rhythmic nature of the pineal function at molecular level in mammal. |
