scholarly journals Tissue-specific regulation of the expression of rat kallikrein gene family members by thyroid hormone

1990 ◽  
Vol 267 (3) ◽  
pp. 745-750 ◽  
Author(s):  
J A Clements ◽  
B A Matheson ◽  
J E Funder

We have altered the thyroid hormonal status of both male and female rats and examined the expression of six functional members of the rat kallikrein gene family (PS, S1, S2, S3, K1 and P1) in the submandibular gland (SMG), kidney, prostate, testis and anterior pituitary gland (AP) of these animals. On Northern-blot analysis with gene-specific oligonucleotide probes, the steady-state mRNA levels of S1, S2, S3, K1 and P1 were all dramatically altered in the SMG of male and female rats treated with propylthiouracil (PTU; 100 mg/litre of drinking water) or thyroxine (T4; 10 micrograms/100 mg body wt.) for 3 weeks. The SMG mRNA levels of these five genes were all lowered (30-90%) in hypothyroid (PTU-treated) male and female rats and elevated (1.4-4-fold, male; 1.5-11-fold, female) in the hyperthyroid (T4-treated) and PTU/T4-treated animals. In contrast, PS (true kallikrein) mRNA levels in the male or female SMG or kidney were essentially unchanged. K1 mRNA levels in the kidney were considerably less responsive to thyroid status than those in the SMG. Changes in S3 and P1 mRNA levels in the prostate were also variable, but essentially unaffected by these treatments. AP PS mRNA levels were also unaffected by changes in thyroid-hormonal status, as were levels of a novel P1-like mRNA in the testis. In summary, these studies demonstrate that the same kallikrein gene family member(s) may be differentially regulated by thyroid hormones in the rat SMG, kidney, prostate and pituitary, and thus further extend the concept of tissue-specific expression and hormonal regulation of the kallikrein gene family in the rat.

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (11) ◽  
pp. 710-723 ◽  
Author(s):  
Atul P Daiwile ◽  
Subramaniam Jayanthi ◽  
Bruce Ladenheim ◽  
Michael T McCoy ◽  
Christie Brannock ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Methamphetamine (METH) use disorder is prevalent worldwide. There are reports of sex differences in quantities of drug used and relapses to drug use among individuals with METH use disorder. However, the molecular neurobiology of these potential sex differences remains unknown. Methods We trained rats to self-administer METH (0. 1 mg/kg/infusion, i.v.) on an fixed-ratio-1 schedule for 20 days using two 3-hour daily METH sessions separated by 30-minute breaks. At the end of self-administration training, rats underwent tests of cue-induced METH seeking on withdrawal days 3 and 30. Twenty-four hours later, nucleus accumbens was dissected and then used to measure neuropeptide mRNA levels. Results Behavioral results show that male rats increased the number of METH infusions earlier during self-administration training and took more METH than females. Both male and female rats could be further divided into 2 phenotypes labeled high and low takers based on the degree of escalation that they exhibited during the course of the METH self-administration experiment. Both males and females exhibited incubation of METH seeking after 30 days of forced withdrawal. Females had higher basal mRNA levels of dynorphin and hypocretin/orexin receptors than males, whereas males expressed higher vasopressin mRNA levels than females under saline and METH conditions. Unexpectedly, only males showed increased expression of nucleus accumbens dynorphin after METH self-administration. Moreover, there were significant correlations between nucleus accumbens Hcrtr1, Hcrtr2, Crhr2, and Avpr1b mRNA levels and cue-induced METH seeking only in female rats. Conclusion Our results identify some behavioral and molecular differences between male and female rats that had self-administered METH. Sexual dimorphism in responses to METH exposure should be considered when developing potential therapeutic agents against METH use disorder.


Circulation ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 142 (Suppl_3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gemma Sanguesa ◽  
Aline Meza ◽  
Anna Alcarraz ◽  
Cira Rubies ◽  
Lluis Mont ◽  
...  

Introduction: There is emerging evidence in men that sustained high-intensity training promotes an adverse cardiovascular remodeling, thereby increasing the risk of atrial fibrillation, ventricular arrhythmias and coronary calcification. Whether men and women are similarly affected by high intensity exercise-induced harm is unclear. Our aim was to study sex differences in a long-term endurance training rat model. Methods: Male and female Wistar rats were subjected to high intensity training for 16 weeks (INT, 60min 60cm/s, male n=20, female n=15). Sedentary rats (SED, male n=20, female n=18) were used as controls. At the end of the training period, rats had an electrocardiogram and echocardiography performed. Vascular fibrosis was assessed in descending aorta, left carotid, and intramyocardial arteries (IMA), right and left atria, and left ventricle (LV) histological samples. mRNA levels of cardiac hypertrophy, fibrosis, oxidative stress and inflammation genes were assessed in LV samples by Real-Time PCR. Results: INT male rats presented lower heart rate (382±9, 340±10, SED vs INT, p<0.01) and a longer QRS duration (18.8±0.6, 22.4±1.1, SED vs INT, p<0.01), while these were not modified in the INT female group. Echocardiography showed eccentric LV hypertrophy in both trained male and female rats. High intensity exercise induced fibrosis in the descending aorta and carotid in both males and females, but IMA were only affected in trained male rats. In the heart, exercise-induced atrial fibrosis similarly occurred in both trained male and female rats. No training-induced fibrosis was evident in the LV of both INT male and female rats. Regarding LV mRNA analysis, INT males showed a reduction of desmin, TTN and N2BA/N2B ratio, whereas INT females exhibited higher desmin mRNA levels and lower αMHC/βMHC ratio. Intense exercise did not increase LV mRNA levels of fibrosis, oxidative stress and inflammation markers neither in males nor in females. In comparison to males, females had lower LV myocardial fibrosis as well as lower fibrosis markers. Conclusions: Male and female rats exhibit qualitatively different cardiovascular remodeling after extreme exercise. Nevertheless, both sexes might develop exercise-induced adverse vascular and cardiac effects.


1997 ◽  
Vol 42 (6) ◽  
pp. 463-467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dave Gayle ◽  
Sergey E. Ilyin ◽  
Carlos R. Plata-Salamán

Endocrinology ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 156 (7) ◽  
pp. 2571-2581 ◽  
Author(s):  
Virginia Mela ◽  
Francisca Díaz ◽  
Ana Belen Lopez-Rodriguez ◽  
María Jesús Vázquez ◽  
Arieh Gertler ◽  
...  

Leptin (Lep) is important in the development of neuroendocrine circuits involved in metabolic control. Because both Lep and metabolism influence pubertal development, we hypothesized that early changes in Lep signaling could also modulate hypothalamic (HT) systems involved in reproduction. We previously demonstrated that a single injection of a Lep antagonist (Antag) on postnatal day (PND)9, coincident with the neonatal Lep peak, induced sexually dimorphic modifications in trophic factors and markers of cell turnover and neuronal maturation in the HT on PND13. Here, our aim was to investigate whether the alterations induced by Lep antagonism persist into puberty. Accordingly, male and female rats were treated with a pegylated super Lep Antag from PND5 to PND9 and killed just before the normal appearance of external signs of puberty (PND33 in females and PND43 in males). There was no effect on body weight, but in males food intake increased, subcutaneous adipose tissue decreased and HT neuropeptide Y and Agouti-related peptide mRNA levels were reduced, with no effect in females. In both sexes, the Antag increased HT mRNA levels of the kisspeptin receptor, G protein-coupled recepter 54 (Gpr54). Expression of the Lep receptor, trophic factors, and glial markers were differently affected in the HT of peripubertal males and females. Lep production in adipose tissue was decreased in Antag-treated rats of both sexes, with production of other cytokines being differentially regulated between sexes. In conclusion, in addition to the long-term effects on metabolism, changes in neonatal Lep levels modifies factors involved in reproduction that could possibly affect sexual maturation.


1987 ◽  
Vol 7 (10) ◽  
pp. 3749-3758
Author(s):  
V da C Soares ◽  
R M Gubits ◽  
P Feigelson ◽  
F Costantini

To investigate the tissue-specific and hormonal regulation of the rat alpha 2u globulin gene family, we introduced one cloned member of the gene family into the mouse germ line and studied its expression in the resulting transgenic mice. Alpha 2u globulingene 207 was microinjected on a 7-kilobase DNA fragment, and four transgenic lines were analyzed. The transgene was expressed at very high levels, specifically in the liver and the preputial gland of adult male mice. The expression in male liver was first detected at puberty, and no expression was detected in female transgenic mice. This pattern of expression is similar to the expression of endogenous alpha 2u globulin genes in the rat but differs from the expression of the homologous mouse major urinary protein (MUP) gene family in that MUPs are synthesized in female liver and not in the male preputial gland. We conclude that these differences between rat alpha 2u globulin and mouse MUP gene expression are due to evolutionary differences in cis-acting regulatory elements. The expression of the alpha 2u globulin transgene in the liver was abolished by castration and fully restored after testosterone replacement. The expression could also be induced in the livers of female mice by treatment with either testosterone or dexamethasone, following ovariectomy and adrenalectomy. Therefore, the cis-acting elements responsible for regulation by these two hormones, as well as those responsible for tissue-specific expression, are closely linked to the alpha 2u globulin gene.


1991 ◽  
Vol 124 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. G. Martinoli ◽  
R. Veilleux ◽  
G. Pelletier

Abstract. The GH lines of rat pituitary tumour cells have been largely used to study the regulation of GH mRNA. In order to investigate the role of T3, dexamethasone and estradiol-17β on GH expression in non-tumoural pituitary cells, we have used in situ hybridization techniques performed on rat anterior pituitary cells in monolayer culture. The amounts of mRNA encoding for GH, as evaluated by counting the number of grains per somatotrope, were markedly reduced after 4 days of culture in a steroid-free medium supplemented with an hypothyroid calf serum. Addition of T3 or dexamethasone for 3 days increased GH mRNA levels. The concomitant administration of the two hormones produced a synergistic effect on GH mRNA levels which became higher than those observed after T3 or dexamethasone administration alone. However, this effect did not restore GH mRNA levels to those measured in monolayer pituitary cells grown in medium containing 10% fetal calf serum. Moreover GH mRNA levels appeared higher in male than in female pituitary cells. The administration of E2 to pituitary cell cultures from both male and female rats produced an increase by 15, and 12.8% in GH mRNA levels in male and female, respectively. This stimulatory effect of E2 in cell culture was competitively blocked by simultaneous incubation with the antiestrogen LY156758 (Keoxifene). These results demonstrate that T3, dexamethasone as well as E2 act directly on somatotropic cells to regulate GH gene expression.


2015 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takeshi Iwasa ◽  
Toshiya Matsuzaki ◽  
Munkhsaikhan Munkhzaya ◽  
Altankhuu Tungalagsuvd ◽  
Akira Kuwahara ◽  
...  

1989 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Pakarinen ◽  
I. Huhtaniemi

ABSTRACT Serum and pituitary LH and FSH, and their pituitary mRNA levels, were measured in neonatal male and female rats after gonadectomy and after gonadectomy with sex steroid replacement. The animals were gonadectomized on day 3 of life, and those given sex steroid replacement were implanted with silicone elastomer capsules containing testosterone for males and diethylstilboestrol for females. Shamoperated rats served as controls. The animals were killed 4 or 8 days later and the sera and pituitaries collected. Pituitary contents of mRNAs for the α subunit, FSH-β and LH-β were determined by blot hybridization using corresponding cDNAs. Distinct sex differences were found in the mRNA responses to gonadectomy and steroid replacement. In the males, gonadectomy increased all mRNA levels at 7 days of age. In the females, a rise on day 7 was detected only for FSH-β; the other mRNAs were increased on day 11 of age. The steroid replacements reversed all the post-gonadectomy increases of mRNAs in both sexes. Moreover, the common α and LH-β mRNAs of the male animals were consistently suppressed below control levels. The serum concentrations of gonadotrophins increased after gonadectomy on day 7 in the males but only on day 11 in the females. The steroid replacements also suppressed the post-gonadectomy increases in serum gonadotrophins, but only the serum concentration of FSH in the females was reduced below controls. Pituitary gonadotrophin concentrations were not affected by gonadectomy, but the steroids suppressed LH in the males and FSH in the females. It is concluded that the onset of negative-feedback regulation of gonadotrophin synthesis by gonads and/or gonadal steroids starts earlier in male rats, before 7 days of age. In female rats these responses appear between 7 and 11 days of age. Clear sex differences were observed in how gonadotrophin mRNAs and pituitary and serum hormone levels responded to gonadectomy and steroid replacement in the neonatal period. Some of the responses differed from those previously reported in adult animals.


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