| First Author | Vankelecom H | Year | 2003 |
| Journal | J Biomed Sci | Volume | 10 |
| Issue | 6 Pt 2 | Pages | 805-12 |
| PubMed ID | 14631120 | Mgi Jnum | J:127875 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3765171 | Doi | 10.1159/000073968 |
| Citation | Vankelecom H, et al. (2003) Targeted ablation of gonadotrophs in transgenic mice depresses prolactin but not growth hormone gene expression at birth as measured by quantitative mRNA detection. J Biomed Sci 10(6 Pt 2):805-12 |
| abstractText | We previously reported that transgenic ablation of gonadotrophs results in impaired development of cells immunostainable for prolactin (PRL) but not of cells immunostainable for growth hormone (GH) or pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) in pituitary of newborn mice. The question remained whether this reduction in PRL protein is a reflection of reduced PRL mRNA expression, or whether this regulation is only situated at the translational level. We therefore generated a new series of transgenic mice in which gonadotrophs were ablated by diphtheria toxin A targeting, and analyzed hormone mRNA levels instead of hormone protein around the day of birth. Pituitary mRNA expression levels of luteinizing hormone-beta (LHbeta), PRL and GH were quantified using real-time TaqMan RT-PCR. Of the 13 transgenic mice obtained, 8 showed a clear-cut reduction (ranging from 62 to 98%) in LHbeta mRNA levels. PRL mRNA values were significantly reduced in the transgenic mice (p = 0.0034), while GH mRNA expression was unaffected (p = 0.93). An additional observation was that female newborn mice produce 5 times more LHbeta mRNA than male mice whereas no sex difference was observed for expression levels of PRL and GH mRNA. Moreover, in the wild-type mice, LHbeta mRNA expression was 20-fold higher than GH mRNA expression which in turn was 500- to 1,000-fold higher than PRL mRNA expression, suggesting a low expression level of the PRL gene at birth. In conclusion, the present data support the hypothesis that embryonic development of PRL gene expression is stimulated by gonadotrophs. |
